STXIV - Tomorrow is Now
by Sanae
Summary: After nearly a year of complete silence, the United Federation of Planets receive a message from the Klingon and Romulan Empires offering a treaty that will bring peace to the galaxy. When the Enterprise gets called to witness this historic moment, Captain Kirk realises that nothing is as it seems. What sacrifices will he be forced to make in order to save the day?
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything. Star Trek (sadly) belongs to Paramount Pictures.

**Star Trek XIV – Tomorrow is Now**

_Prologue_

Patience had never been one of his race's most notable traits and Kor's already limited supply had long run out. Captain Decius had promised to deliver results by the end of the week but, after nearly a year of tests, the Romulan engineers had failed to come up with a cloaking device that would work on one of the Klingon warbirds.

'Sir, this is useless,' Engineer Kali, a fierce female officer, said during the long journey to the secret testing facility they were using, 'it will blow up, just like it happened to the IKS Bortas a month ago.'

Kor refused to even acknowledge the comment for the only appropriate response would be to throw an angry punch at his subordinate and, while he would probably take pleasure in provoking her pain, it would be as unproductive as their alliance with the Romulans had so far proven to be.

Kali was right though, Kor mused remembering their most spectacular failure up to date. He'd been frankly horrified when they had seen the old D5-class warbird explode the instant the Romulan engineers activated the device that was supposed to conceal the ship from every type of detection.

His superior officer had been livid when he'd heard about the incident and, on behalf of the Chancellor, the Dahar Master Zahrn had given him an ultimatum: failure to bring results quickly would result in the immediate termination of any agreement with the Romulan Star Empire.

Kor hated this pressure almost as much as he hated having to rely on the Romulan expertise. Several times in the past months he'd considered stealing the cloaking device but, it pained him to admit, the technology involved was far too advanced for the Klingon engineers, even the most brilliant ones like Kali herself. Kor was well aware that if Decius failed to deliver, the Romulan-Klingon alliance would not be the only thing which would be terminated, his own life would be too.

At last, the IKS Klothos docked in the Romulan space station orbiting an unnamed planetoid in the middle of the Neutral Zone. Followed by Kali and a few of her colleagues, Kor hurried to disembark, eager to see if Decius had indeed made any progress.

Following the dark corridor that led to the station's operational centre, they found several metallic components scattered along the way. Kor couldn't remember seeing them there the last time he'd visited the place and made a mental note to ask about them to Captain Decius.

He found the Romulan busy talking to two of his own engineers, Kor only knew one of them, a mean, very tall fellow with the same unhealthy colouring, pointy ears, scanted eyebrows and the tattoo his kind sported with the same pride Kor wore his own sash. His name was Akran, if memory served him right. It was him who warned Captain Decius of the arrival of the Klingons.

'Commander Kor!' Decius exclaimed, 'my apologies,' he quickly added, 'it is Captain now, isn't it?'

'It is,' Kor confirmed.

'Congratulations on your promotion,' Decius offered politely.

'Thank you,' Kor brought himself to say, 'what's the status? You said you had something to report.'

'Straight to business then, huh?' Decius said with his usual nasty smile, 'very well. If you please…'

Kor's gaze followed the direction Decius was pointing at and, exchanging a quick glance with Kali, they started walking towards what looked like the nucleus of a reactor of sorts. In the middle of it, the Klingon Captain saw a small box, not much bigger than his own hand.

'What is it?' Kor asked Decius who was walking with him.

'It's finished,' Decius replied.

'But that's…'

'It's the finished product,' Decius repeated, 'in reality, we completed testing two weeks ago but Commander Akran said he could make it smaller so that it would be easier to carry and install.'

'It will also make it more difficult to reverse-engineer it,' Kali pointed out.

'Exactly,' Akran replied.

'We don't want the Federation to get this technology, do we?' Decius sneered.

'Of course not,' Kor said throwing a warning glare at Kali who proceeded to shut her mouth.

'Anyway,' Decius said, 'we're confident it'll work. After our little…accident…'

'I would not call it little,' Kor countered, 'the IKS Bortas was an old ship but she had served with honour. Seeing her destroyed like that was…'

'Yes,' Decius dared to interrupt him, 'it is precisely to avoid having a repeat of such an unpleasant incident that Akran and his team have worked day and night trying to figure out what went wrong.'

'And?' Kali asked directly to Akran himself, 'did you find out?'

'I did,' he replied.

'What was it?' she challenged him.

'The ship's mass was miscalculated,' Akran replied, ignoring Kali and speaking to Kor, 'the vessel's geometries made it difficult for our equation to calculate the mass with the required accuracy. We have now solved this issue by pre-inputting the structural parameters from every ship in your fleet.'

'How did you get that information?' Kor asked suddenly feeling uneasy.

'We've been studying your ships for years,' Captain Decius admitted.

'Keep your friends close,' Kor commented, 'and your enemies…'

'Now, now,' Decius said, 'we're no longer enemies, are we?'

'No, we aren't,' Kor conceded, 'our enemy is the Federation.'

'Yes,' Decius confirmed, 'but not for long.'

'Not for long,' Kor repeated, 'but first we must ensure this device of yours works.'

'It does,' Akran promised, 'and to prove it, we will install it in your own ship.'

'WHAT?' Kali exploded, 'YOU SHAN'T GO ANYWHERE NEAR THE KLOTHOS!'

'KALI!' Kor shouted back then, making a supreme effort to remain calm, he glared at Akran and demanded, 'explain yourself.'

'He already has,' Captain Decius interceded, 'we will install the device on your ship. I guarantee you that it will work; I am so confident that I am prepared to deal with any consequences if it fails.'

'So am I,' Akran added.

Seeing this and against his best judgement, Kor forced himself to nod and, before Kali would simply kill every Romulan in sight, he placed his hand on top of her shoulder and, looking at Decius he said:

'Alright, if anything happens to my ship, you'll have to answer to her.'

He could feel his officer tensing in preparation for the upcoming battle. Knowing her as well as he did, Kor knew that Kali was almost wishing the test would fail, if only she could kill them painfully.

'Everything will be fine,' Akran assured them.

With that and not giving Kor the time to reconsider, the Romulan engineer signalled his colleagues to bring the device. With mounting worry, Kor and Kali followed Akran and his team into the engineering section of the IKS Klothos while the rest of the Klingons wisely evacuated the ship.

'It's ready,' Akran announced after nearly an hour of tinkering.

'Okay,' Decius said, he then grabbed his communicator and speaking to someone in the station, he said, 'start the recording, we're going to activate the device in ten seconds from now.'

'What…' Kor started.

'I told you,' Decius stopped him, 'I am so confident this will work I am prepared to stay here.'

Kor found himself swallowing hard while he watched Akran pressing a button on a remote control he had in his hand. Kali's eyes widened for a fraction of a second then, the Klingon warrior in her forced her to remain calm, even in the face of an imminent, potentially horrible death. Kor was proud of her.

'…seven, six, five, four, three, two, one,' Akran counted down.

Then, nothing happened.

Confused, Kor looked around himself looking for signs that anything had changed. There were none.

'Take a look,' Decius invited him, offering him a portable viewer.

Kali and Kor stared at it and what they saw left them both breathless: the small display showed the station's security camera, the one pointed at exactly the spot where the IKS Klothos was supposed to be docked. But, instead of seeing his ship, Kor could see nothing but deep space.

The Klothos was gone. Invisible.

'Deactivate,' Decius ordered Akran who proceeded to press the button once again.

Kor saw his ship slowly waving back into sight and then, he felt his lips curving into a smile.

'Well, well,' he finally manged to say.

'Impressed?' Captain Decius said.

'Very,' Kor admitted, 'how soon can we have it installed in our fleet?' he then asked.

'Less than a month,' Decius promised.

'In that case,' Kor said, 'we have a month to prepare our meeting with the Federation.'

'Remember our deal,' Decius reminded him, 'the Enterprise must be there.'

'It will be,' Kor promised, 'the Dahar Master Zahrn himself guarantees it.'

'Good,' Decius replied, 'now, let's go and celebrate.'

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter One

**Star Trek XIV – Tomorrow is Now**

_Chapter One_

Captain's Log, Stardate 2262.53

'After nearly two years scouring the galaxy, we have found traces of a brand new civilisation. In truth, we almost bypassed them but thanks to Lieutenant Uhura's exceptional aural sensitivity, we intercepted what clearly were multiple radio transmissions. The language spoken in them is unknown to us and does not match any existing records in our database but both of my Science Officers on board have concluded that the source of the broadcast must be a technologically advanced society. Needless to say, the crew and I are all very excited about this discovery and we shall investigate it further in the upcoming days. Our hope is that this new species will turn out to be eligible for a potential First Contact. Kirk out.'

Pressing the button on his armrest, he got up and walked to the Communications station to continue listening to the constant audio feed that the scanners kept picking up. He smiled remembering Chekov's candid comment when hearing all the incessant chatter: 'they talk more than my nana!'

'Anything new?' he asked Uhura.

'Yes,' the Lieutenant replied, 'I'm trying to decode it as we speak but I think I got some sort of visual.'

'Visual?' Kirk asked, his interest piqued.

'Yes, sir,' Uhura replied smiling at him, 'the frequency is similar to our ancient VHF signal.'

'They have television?' Kirk asked her.

'It looks like they do,' Uhura replied sharing his enthusiasm.

'It'd be great if we managed to see what they look like,' the Captain commented.

'Yes, it would,' she agreed, 'I'll do my best to make it happen.'

'I'm sure you will,' Kirk replied offering her one of his winning grins. Predictably, she proceeded to roll her eyes, something she knew made him feel oddly accomplished. It was one of those habits the two of them had developed over the years they'd known each other, one they particularly enjoyed.

'Captain,' they both heard Spock's voice coming from the turbolift.

'Spock,' Kirk said turning round to face him. The Vulcan looked impeccable as always and, to others, his face conveyed nothing but Kirk knew better and he could see the longing in those deep brown eyes when he looked at the Communications Officer. The emotion was gone an instant later.

'Captain, it is the end of your shift,' the First Officer announced sounding matter-of-factly.

'Already?' Kirk asked with genuine surprise.

'Affirmative,' Spock replied, 'I am here to relieve you.'

'Ah, okay,' Kirk said glancing at Uhura, 'time does fly when one is having fun.'

'It sure does,' Uhura agreed, but her smile had dimmed a little bit since Spock's arrival.

'Well,' Kirk said trying to keep an upbeat tone, 'we'll need to continue this later, won't we?'

'Aye, Captain,' Uhura replied, 'with your permission, I'll take my leave as well.'

'Granted,' Kirk replied, 'in fact, let's head down to Deck 5 together.'

The Communications Officer hesitated only for a fraction of a second before nodding once.

'Sure,' she added for good measure.

Getting up, she waited until another member of the crew manned her station and then, without exchanging a single glance or word with Spock, she closed the short distance to the turbolift, standing by while she waited for her Commanding Officer to join her.

'Spock,' Kirk said, 'I don't expect any news but…'

'I shall keep you informed of any developments,' Spock reassured him.

'Thank you,' Kirk said holding his gaze with him for a moment. He was going to say something else but, changing his mind, he briefly smiled at his First Officer and said, 'I'll see you in a few hours.'

'Yes, Captain,' Spock confirmed then, in one of those rare, thus extremely precious, human moments of his, he added, 'good night, Jim.'

'Thanks, Spock,' Kirk replied, his smile widening, 'you have the conn.'

'Aye, Captain.'

Kirk joined Uhura and as they boarded the turbolift, they saw Spock primly sitting on the Captain chair, ready to start the Gamma Shift. Kirk waited until the doors slid closed to speak his mind:

'Uhura…'

'Please sir,' she warned him practically stabbing the button to take them down, 'don't.'

'Humour me,' he gently requested.

'I know what you're going to say,' Uhura blurted, 'and I don't want to hear it again.'

'I understand that,' Kirk reassured her, 'but I still think you're making a mistake, the both of you.'

'All due respect, sir,' Uhura said looking at him in the eye, 'but that's none of your business.'

'That's debatable,' Kirk countered.

'Captain…'

'I'm not your Captain now,' Kirk stopped her, 'I am your very concerned friend and, as such, I would really like you to understand that regardless of the Vulcan bond that links Spock and I, he is still in love with you as much as you're in love with him.'

'I know that,' Uhura quietly admitted.

'Then what's wrong?' Kirk asked her, 'it's been nearly a year and yet…'

'You know what _t'hy'la_ means, don't you?' she asked him.

'Of course I do,' he replied, 'it's a bond that transcends all others.'

'Then you should be able to understand why I can't be with him anymore,' Uhura said resolutely.

'I must be pretty slow then,' Kirk deadpanned, 'because I don't get it.'

Uhura stared at him for a moment before taking a deep breath, then, just as the turbolift arrived at destination, she pressed the button to keep the doors closed and, looking very dejected, she said:

'You're right, I love Spock, I always have and always will and I know that, in his own way, Spock loves me too. For the longest time, I was fine with what little emotion I could get from him but, seeing him interact with you, especially in the past year, has made it painfully obvious to me that I was fooling myself. I want more than what Spock can offer me, I also want to share with someone a bond that will transcend all others. Is it wrong of me to aspire to that? Am I asking too much?'

It was Kirk's turn to remain silent for a bit then, shaking his head once, he conceded:

'No, you're not asking too much.'

'Then there's nothing else we can discuss,' Uhura said with a finality that was only punctuated by her opening the turbolift's doors and with a quick, 'good night, Captain,' she just left him standing there.

Sighing, he stepped out of the turbolift, allowing the doors to close with a swishing sound while he watched Uhura turning around a corner and disappearing from his sight. Kirk then made his way to the entrance of the Captain's quarters, absentmindedly inputting his code while he thought of his conversation with his Communications Officer. Now he understood the point she was trying to make, he could not help but to think of a certain very intelligent officer who was now sleeping in his bed.

Did Carol also feel insecure because of his special bond with Spock?

If she did, she had never shown it. In fact, Carol had been very happy when he'd asked her if she wanted to share quarters with him. Even if the quarters in question were the Captain's, Kirk was quite sure that she had accepted to be with him, not because of the extra comfort they offered.

'Jim?' her soft voice took him out of his reverie.

'Sorry,' he whispered while he walked into the sleeping area, 'I didn't mean to wake you.'

'It's okay,' she said sitting up on their bed, 'I was just half asleep anyway.'

'Are you feeling any better?' Kirk asked her sounding a tad concerned.

'Not really,' Carol replied.

'You should go and see Bones,' Kirk told her sitting down by her side, 'you've been poorly for days.'

'I'll be fine,' Carol insisted for the umpteenth time, 'it's just a cold.'

'Okay,' Kirk conceded, 'but if this continues, I will ask Bones to put you on sick leave and you will have to get a full check-up. You know that's what Starfleet regulations mandate.'

'And of course,' she teased him, 'you're so into Starfleet regulations.'

Taking her hand, he kissed it once and said:

'Contrary to popular belief, I find that some Starfleet regulations actually make sense.'

'Oh wow,' Carol gasped feigning the utmost astonishment then, lowering her voice to a conspirational whisper, she added, 'don't' worry, I won't tell a soul you said that, for a price…'

'A price?' he asked her sounding intrigued.

'Well…'

She couldn't name the cost of her silence because, right at that moment, the room's intercom buzzed asking for their attention. Kirk got up immediately telling her to, 'hold that thought,' he then closed the short distance to the wall and, pressing the button, he said, 'Kirk here.'

'Captain,' it was Spock, 'my apologies for disturbing your rest.'

'It's fine, Spock,' he reassured him, 'I wasn't sleeping. What's up? Anything new to report?'

'No, Captain,' Spock replied, 'we have received a transmission from Starfleet Command. Admiral Barnett wishes to speak to you.'

'Oh,' he said then, a beat later, he added, 'like, now?'

'Yes, Captain,' Spock replied and only Kirk noticed the Vulcan's slight amusement.

'Okay then,' Kirk said, 'have it transferred to my private viewer. It must be pretty important for him to contact me directly, so I'll call you as soon as I'm done to tell you what he said.'

'Yes, Captain,' Spock replied, 'please stand by.'

Kirk moved around the thin wall that separated the sleeping area from the small living room where the private viewer was installed. Taking a seat in front of it, he waited until Barnett's face appeared.

'Captain Kirk,' the man said offering him a smile.

'Admiral,' he replied with a sheepish look, 'I hope I'm not in trouble.'

The Admiral laughed softly before becoming his usual serious self.

'Actually Kirk,' he said, 'for once I come bearing what I hope will be good news for the Federation,' Kirk remained quiet allowing his superior officer to continue, 'an emissary speaking on behalf of the Klingon and Romulan Empires has contacted us requesting us to hold talks with representatives from both Empires, regarding a long-term peace treaty between them and our Federation.'

'Really?' Kirk couldn't help but to ask.

'I was as surprised as you are,' Barnett said, 'and more than a tad suspicious if I'm to be honest.'

'Tell me about it,' Kirk muttered almost to himself, 'you didn't buy any of that, did you, sir?'

'I had a bit of trouble they would be so generous all of a sudden,' Barnett admitted, 'but their terms, albeit unusual, were convincing enough to persuade both the President and Starfleet Command.'

'Can I be made aware of those terms?' Kirk asked cautiously.

'Yes,' Barnett replied, 'in fact, your presence there is part of those terms.'

'Our what? I…'

'Kirk,' Barnett interrupted him, 'the emissary suggested we'd meet at our earliest convenience on Nimbus III. He insisted they were open to our own proposals but the President and I agree that it makes sense to meet there since it's exactly in the middle of the Neutral Zone. Their only requirement is that, as a sign of good will from all three parties, each of their fleets must have their flagship there representing them. I find it difficult to argue with that, after all, the Enterprise is more than just a flagship, she is the symbol that embodies everything the Federation stands for.'

'That's right,' Kirk agreed wholeheartedly, 'but we're basically on the far edge of the quadrant, sir. It will take us a week to reach Nimbus III. Furthermore, we've just made our biggest discovery yet.'

'Kirk,' Barnett said with the sort of tone that warned he was running out of patience, 'whatever you've discovered, it will still be there by the time we're done. I don't need to explain what a peace treaty would mean to Starfleet, let alone the Federation. We have nothing to lose and all to win.'

'I can't argue that, sir,' Kirk accepted, 'but I still find it hard to believe that…'

'Irrelevant,' Barnett cut him, 'your orders are to present your ship to Nimbus III in a week from now.'

Kirk bit his retort and, instead, he nodded and making an effort to keep a neutral tone, he said:

'Yes, sir.'

'Good,' Barnett said looking clearly relieved, 'I'll be there too with the Hope so, I'll see you soon.'

'Yes, sir,' Kirk repeated.

'Kirk,' Barnett said, 'I know it's a pain and I know I promised you'd be able to explore the galaxy…'

'Admiral,' Kirk dared to interrupt him, 'I understand, this meeting is very important and the Enterprise and her crew be there ready to do whatever it is required. You can count on that, sir.'

'Thank you,' Barnett said, 'I'll see you in a week, Barnett out.'

'So,' Kirk heard Carol's voice coming from behind him, 'we're off to Nimbus III.'

'It looks like it,' Kirk said turning on his chair, 'Spock is going to love this,' he added sarcastically.

'Yeah,' Carol replied matching his tone, 'I'm not crazy about the idea myself.'

'I'm sorry,' Kirk said taking her in his arms so that she would come to sit on his lap, 'I wish I could do something about it but, orders are orders besides, with a bit of luck, this might actually be the real deal. Who knows? Maybe the Klingons and the Romulans need this treaty as much as we do.'

'You really think so?' Carol asked him.

Kirk stared at her beautiful eyes for an instant and, shaking his head, he admitted:

'Not for a moment.'

Carol shared a worried moment with him before saying:

'Well, in that case, let's prepare for the worst while we hope for the best.'

Kirk just nodded his agreement trying not to think of what "the worst" could mean for his crew.

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter Two

**Star Trek XIV – Tomorrow is Now**

_Chapter Two_

Kirk hated wearing Starfleet's dark grey formal uniform. Admittedly, he did look dashing with it and enjoyed the admiring glances he got from most women (and even some men if he had to be honest) but, he felt uncomfortable, terribly overdressed and found its stiff fabric to be most unpractical in the likely case they found themselves involved in any sort of fight. Plus he hated the hat: it was too old fashioned and ruined what Scotty had once referred to as his 'perfect hair.'

In spite of that, he grabbed it from the top of his bed and, with a heavy sigh he walked out of his quarters, finding that Spock was already waiting for him. He too was wearing his dress uniform.

'I really don't understand why we have to wear this,' Kirk said as they walked away from their rooms.

'Captain,' Spock said with an almost conciliatory tone, 'ours is a diplomatic mission of the highest calibre. Being such a historic moment, it is only logical our attire matches the occasion.'

'You don't believe that for a minute,' it wasn't a question.

'No, I do not,' Spock confirmed nevertheless, 'but, as you said, it is necessary the Klingon and the Romulan believe we are operating under the assumption that this conference is, as they claim, a peace offering.'

'I did say that,' Kirk admitted, 'but still, I don't care about what the President and the Admiral think about this meeting, you know that I just can't shake the feeling that this is some sort of trap.'

'Yes, I do,' Spock replied evenly, 'as you know that I fully concur with that sentiment.'

The Captain glanced at his First Officer and offered him a grateful smile while he thought of how great it was to be in complete agreement over something as important as the current situation. Knowing that Spock had his back made Kirk confident that he, the Enterprise and her crew would prevail regardless of what their enemies had planned for them. Having Spock's full support made him feel as if he were superhuman.

It was an almost addictive sensation.

'JIM!' they both heard Dr McCoy's voice shouting behind them.

'Bones,' Kirk said turning round, he then saw that the doctor was also clad in his formal wear.

'Good,' the older man said breathing heavily, 'I thought you two had left.'

'Why are you wearing that?' Kirk asked him.

'Why?' McCoy repeated, 'because I'm coming with you, that's why!'

'No you're not,' Kirk countered, 'it's just COs and XOs, Admiral Barnett was very clear about that.'

'What?' the doctor said then, throwing an accusatory glare at poor Spock, he demanded, 'are you going to allow him to do that?'

'Doctor,' Spock replied sounding unnervingly calm, 'as we are following protocol dictated by a superior officer, my opinion on the matter is quite irrelevant.'

'Dammit man,' McCoy protested, 'what if something happens to him?' he then asked referring to Kirk as if he wasn't even there.

'We'll be fine,' the Captain replied putting emphasis on the plural, 'Spock and I will take care of each other, don't we Spock?'

'Yes, Captain,' Spock promptly replied.

'But…'

'Bones,' Kirk interrupted him, 'we'll be okay besides, I need my CMO onboard, in case something happens.'

'Jim…'

'Please, Bones,' Kirk insisted, 'I'll feel better knowing you're here.'

That was a low trick but it worked and with a very heavy and pointed sigh, his best friend nodded and, after giving a quick, non-verbal warning to Spock, he glanced at Kirk and ordered him to, 'take care of yourself.'

'We will,' Kirk promised.

After seeing Dr McCoy walking back to Medical, Kirk and Spock made their way to the turbolift and, a moment later, they arrived at the bridge where Scotty was temporarily filling in as Commanding Officer.

'Captain on the bridge,' Chekov announced seeing him.

'Sir,' the Chief Engineer said starting to vacate the chair.

'Don't bother,' Kirk told him, 'we're only here for a moment.'

'Oh,' Scotty said looking positively disappointed, 'I thought I'd head down to Engineering, Captain.'

'I'm sorry Scotty but you can't do that,' Kirk replied repressing a smile, 'I need you here.'

'Aye, Captain,' the Scotsman said sounding miserable. He then proceeded to fall back on the chair.

'Time for destination, Mr Sulu,' Kirk asked knowing they couldn't be too far.

'We should arrive in about two minutes, sir,' the helmsman replied with a tone which indicated he wasn't exactly happy either, 'scans are detecting two ships, one is a Klingon warbird, I'm not sure about the other.'

'It must be the Romulan flagship,' Spock pointed out.

'Any news from the Hope?' Kirk then asked Uhura.

'Yes, sir,' the Communications Officer said, 'they're almost there too.'

'Good,' Kirk said.

Less than two minutes later, Sulu dropped them out of warp and they were greeted by a very unsettling picture: a huge, heavily armed Klingon D7-class warbird and an even bigger unknown craft which looked even more menacing than her companion. Kirk had only seen one Romulan ship before and even though this one was infinitely smaller than the Narada, its utterly alien geometry was a truly terrifying sight to behold.

The arrival of the USS Hope had the merit to get his attention off the two enemy vessels.

'We're being hailed,' Uhura announced.

'On screen,' Kirk ordered.

'Captain Kirk,' Admiral Barnett said looking almost relieved, 'you're already here.'

'Well sir,' he replied, 'all due respect but it's not like we were given a choice.'

'I know you don't want to be here,' Barnett said in what was the understatement of the century, 'just as I know you won't like what I must order you next but I still have to do it: you need to lower your shields.'

'Sir, what did you just say?' a dumbfounded Kirk asked for he refused to believe his own ears.

'Lower your shields, Captain,' the Admiral repeated.

'Admiral…'

'The Romulan Captain hailed us earlier,' the superior officer explained, 'and he requested we lower our shields saying that they would take it as a sign of mutual trust. I was as reluctant to comply as you are but, if you check your scanners, you'll see that their shields are down too on both of their ships.'

Kirk glanced at Sulu who, after checking one of his displays in front of him, he nodded and said:

'He's right.'

'Admiral…'

'Kirk,' Barnett warned him, 'we don't have time, I don't know what they'll do if they see we're hesitating.'

The Captain stared at the head of Starfleet for as long as he could then, resigned, he ordered Sulu to:

'Lower the shields.'

The helmsman allowed himself to look doubtful for a moment, then, he turned to his console where he pressed the combination of buttons that would render the USS Enterprise as defenceless as a newborn baby.

Everyone on the bridge held their breath, even those whose alien physiology didn't even require oxygen to survive and for interminably long seconds, they all braced themselves for the enemy fire they were sure would soon try to obliterate them. The level of tension was so high some crew members started feeling faint.

However, after a full minute and to their utmost surprise, nothing had happened.

'Okay,' Kirk said speaking to the Admiral 'what do we do now, sir?'

'We shall proceed as planned,' he replied, 'I'll see you on the surface.'

'Yes, you will,' Kirk promised. As soon as the transmission was terminated, he stared hard at Sulu and said, 'keep your finger on those buttons, if you feel even a tingle of suspicion, you get those shields back up.'

'Yes, sir,' the helmsman replied.

'Mr Scott,' Kirk added, this time speaking to his Chief Engineer who was looking much paler than usual, 'whatever happens down there, your priority is the ship. If this goes south you get her out of here, okay?'

'Aye, Captain,' Scotty replied, his voice barely audible.

'What about them?' Sulu asked Kirk pointing at the USS Hope.

'If the Admiral has any common sense,' Kirk replied, 'he'll issue the same order to his Acting Captain.'

'If not?' Chekov asked him.

'If not…' Kirk started, he hesitated before adding, 'if not, hail them and tell them to get the hell out of here.'

'Aye, Captain,' Scotty replied.

'Okay,' Kirk concluded, he then turned to the Science station which was currently manned by a healthier looking Carol, 'Dr Marcus' he said sounding very professional, 'make sure the arsenal is armed and ready.'

'Yes, sir,' she said, 'with your permission, I'd like to head down to the Weapons Bay.'

'Granted,' Kirk replied. He glanced at Spock to tell him to go but found him engaged in some sort of silent conversation with Uhura whose expression denoted just how very worried she was, 'Spock,' he gently said.

'Yes,' the Vulcan just said.

With that, he turned to the door which led out of the bridge forcing Kirk, and Carol, to follow him suit.

'I'll walk with you to the transporter,' she muttered for his ears only.

'Okay,' Kirk agreed.

The three of them walked out of the bridge and covered the short distance which separated the ship's command centre from the main transporter room. Neither exchanged a single word, not even Kirk who was already setting his mind to the very dangerous mission which lay ahead of them. Judging by the way Spock's shoulders were squared, he knew his First Officer was doing exactly the same.

'Be careful,' Carol broke the silence once they arrived at their destination.

'I will be,' Kirk promised her.

'You too,' she then added glancing at Spock who looked a little startled for a nanosecond before he motioned his head in the tiniest of nods. Carol smiled at him before returning her attention to her boyfriend.

'I'll see you soon,' Kirk said.

'Okay,' she replied then, as if she was acting before she could change her mind, she leant for a quick kiss taking off so quickly after that it prevented Kirk from even reacting to it. He couldn't repress a smug smile.

'Let's go,' he then told Spock who was staring at him with an almost curious look.

Ignoring that, Kirk stepped into the transporter room where he found two crewmen from Engineering filling their posts, one of them was a junior technician who had been trained by Scotty himself, mainly because the kid happened to be from Edinburgh. The Captain walked up to him and asked:

'What's the situation down there?'

'Admiral Barnett and his First Officer just beamed down, sir,' he replied, 'with them, I have six lifeforms.'

'Just that?' Kirk asked him to confirm.

'Yes, Captain,' the officer replied, 'I've scanned the area several times but I can only read six people.'

'Okay,' he said, 'prepare to beam us down to those coordinates and stand by for instructions: we might need to be beamed back up immediately.'

'Yes, sir,' the young man said.

Kirk and Spock placed themselves on their pads and, as soon as they were ready, he ordered them to:

'Energise.'

A few moments later, they materialised on a barren world full of nothing but rocks, sand and dust. Dr McCoy would have complained to no end if he had joined them in this trip, Kirk reflected sarcastically. He had no more time to think about trivial stuff for, right before them, he saw Admiral Barnett and his Brazilian First Officer Commander Riccardo da Silva. They were standing in front of two Klingon and two Romulan warriors.

'Welcome to Nimbus III,' said one of the Romulan warriors. His resemblance with Nero made Kirk feel a cold shiver run down his back, 'my name is Captain Decius and this is my First Officer Commander Akran.'

'Captain, Commander,' Kirk cautiously acknowledged.

'I am Captain Kor,' the Klingon spoke, 'and this is Commander Kaz, my First Officer.'

'My name is James T Kirk,' he supplied, 'and this is…'

'Your First Officer Spock,' Captain Decius finished for him then, noting their surprise, he elaborated, 'we of course know of Commander Spock, legendary half-Vulcan who refused admission to their Science Academy to join Starfleet. It is an honour to make your acquaintance, Commander Spock,' he said with what probably wanted to be an affable smile but looked more like a sarcastic smirk.

'Shall we proceed?' the Admiral intervened sensing that Kirk was about to open his mouth to defend Spock.

'Of course,' Decius agreed, 'but first things first,' he said indicating a black crate that Kirk had just noticed.

'Captain Kirk,' Admiral said, 'you need to depose of your weapons. I've already done so and Captain Decius and Captain Kor had been kind enough to let me personally check that they are not armed either.'

'Adm…'

'Please Kirk,' the head of Starfleet almost begged.

Kirk exchanged a glance with Spock who after a moment offered him one of his almost imperceptible nods.

'Okay,' Kirk conceded. He unhooked both his phaser and his communicator from his belt. He observed Spock while he did the same and then, he raised his arms and said, 'feel free to check me up too.'

The Klingon Commander complied and started slapping his hands heavily onto every part of Kirk's body. One of the hits was particularly strong and Kirk had to stop himself from visibly wincing. This made Spock tense up but Kirk briefly shook his head and silently told him everything was fine.

'What is this?' the Klingon warrior said having found something in Kirk's pocket.

'It's just an antique,' the Captain explained producing an ancient Swiss army knife, 'it doesn't unfold anymore,' he added letting everyone see that the tool was indeed no longer functional, 'but it was a present from my girlfriend and I carry it as a lucky charm.'

'I see,' Captain Kor said, 'you may keep it then.'

'Thank you,' Kirk replied.

The Admiral let out a sigh of relief before started following Captain Decius and his First Officer. Oddly and against Kirk's prediction, the Klingons led the way leaving the four Starfleet officers covering the rear. This didn't make any sense to Kirk: if they wanted to attack them, wouldn't it be easier if they surrounded them?

His question would receive an answer soon enough.

Following the Klingon and Romulan parties into the well lit cave where they were to conduct the meeting. Spock noticed that the rocks covering its walls were made of magnetite and was about to warn Kirk when coming from around a corner, they all saw two armed Romulan warriors charging against them.

What happened next was too quick to even properly register:

One of these warriors fired upon Admiral Barnett who instantly dropped dead on to the ground. His First Officer uselessly tried to get him up and just as Kirk went to pry him away from Barnett's body, the other Romulan soldier shoot at him. Kirk was going to move out of the way when a dark grey blur interposed itself between Kirk and the weapon taking a direct hit onto his back.

A split second too late, Kirk realised who the dark grey blur was:

Spock.

The Captain saw a flash of pain on the Vulcan's expression before he closed his deep brown eyes.

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter Three

**Star Trek XIV – Tomorrow is Now**

_Chapter Three_

Led by sheer instinct, Kirk stopped himself from checking whether Spock was alive or not. Partially because he knew he couldn't afford to waste the time but the main reason was that he was so terrified of what he'd find out if he did that he simply could not do it. Instead, he lowered the Vulcan's body onto Da Silva's arms as gently as he could, then he produced the broken Swiss Army knife out of his pocket.

'ARE YOU MAD?' he somehow heard the Commander shouting at him.

Ignoring his protests, he pointed the knife towards the two Romulan warriors while he clicked on a tiny switch under the knife and then, as Carol had instructed him, he pressed twice on the Swiss flag printed on top of it, firing two charges that hit the two armed warriors straight onto their chest, stunning their Romulan asses.

'What…'

'GET OUT OF HERE!' Kirk shouted at the Brazilian officer.

In the two or three seconds the surprise factor had managed to buy them, Kirk covered Da Silva while the Commander carried Spock outside the cave. He kept the knife trained on the other four warriors and, just as Commander Kaz bent down to grab the Romulan gun from one of the two fallen warriors, Kirk fired what he knew was the last charge of his mini-phaser, stunning the Klingon with pin point precision.

After that, he just ran as fast as his legs could take him.

Outside the cave, he found that Da Silva and Spock were gone. Panic mounting, Kirk started looking around for any signs of them when he saw, in this order, three furious warriors rushing after him and then, the golden strands which indicated he was being beamed up somewhere. He dematerialised just as Captain Decius was aiming the other Romulan gun at him. The shot hit a nearby rock, for Kirk was no longer there.

The Captain materialised onboard the Enterprise where he found Commander Da Silva on his knees next to an unconscious Spock, giving orders to the crewmen manning the transporter to call for a doctor. Everyone looked relieved to see him there unharmed but Kirk didn't care, his brain was focused on Spock and, lowering himself next to his First Officer, he couldn't help but to grab his hand in his feeling a wave of relief when he felt a pulse, it was slow and faint but it was there, reassuring Kirk that Spock was still with him.

'Sir,' Scotty's protégé hurriedly explained, 'I lost both of your signals and when I saw them again, I beamed Commander Spock and him,' he said pointing at the only stranger there, 'but then I saw yours too and, I…'

'It's okay,' Kirk interrupted him, 'you did the right thing beaming Commander Da Silva onboard. Your quick thinking saved our lives so I'll be sure to recommend you to Starfleet Command for a commendation.'

The engineer looked like Christmas had come early.

The arrival the medical team led by Doctor Kaori Kitagawa sobered them up and while she rushed to Spock's supine and all-too-still form, he got up and moved out of her way before he asked her:

'Where's Dr McCoy?'

'He's busy,' the Japanese physician said without taking her eyes off her tricorder.

'Sir,' the Scottish crewman said before Kirk could even ask his next question, 'you should go to the bridge.'

'No,' Kirk replied pointing at Spock, 'I have to stay with him.'

'You can do nothing for him,' Dr Kitagawa told him, 'we'll take care of Commander Spock.'

'Don't worry, Captain,' one of the nurses reassured him, 'Dr Kitagawa is specialised in Vulcan physiology.'

'Is she?' Kirk asked trying not to sound disbelieving.

'That's why I was assigned to your ship,' the doctor confirmed, 'we should take him to medical,' she then said talking to her team, 'I'll be sure to find you to issue you with a complete report; fear not Captain, I will do my best to ensure he makes a speedy recovery.'

'Thank you,' Kirk replied, allowing himself a last glance at Spock's horribly pasty face, careful to avoid the green blood that soiled the transporter's otherwise pristine pad. He then looked at Da Silva and said, 'Commander, if you're unhurt, perhaps you'd like to come to the bridge with me.'

'Of course,' he replied, 'I'm at your orders, Captain.'

'Okay,' Kirk said, 'let's go then.'

Walking out of the Transporter Room and using the portion of his brain that wasn't worried sick about Spock, he finally noticed the man he'd brought onboard his ship. Commander Da Silva was a medium sized man, in his mid thirties with very short black hair and who probably was quite tanned, yet the near-death experience had made his skin rather pale and that highlighted his bright green eyes that now looked very sad.

'I'm sorry about Admiral Barnett,' Kirk brought himself to say while they marched down the corridor.

It took a couple of seconds for Da Silva to reply.

'I just can't believe he's dead. Also…leaving him there…'

'I know,' Kirk said, 'but we had no choice, surely you understand that.'

'I do, sir,' Da Silva said, 'but it doesn't help me feel any less horrible. I've only served under the Admiral for about a year but he was a decent man and deserved at least a proper burial,' Kirk didn't know what to say to that so he opted to remain quiet, 'I think I'm cursed or something,' the Commander said next.

'What do you mean?' Kirk asked him.

'This is the second Commanding Officer who dies with me as his First Officer,' Da Silva replied, 'I think I should resign my commission and take over my father's business. I think my wife and newborn daughter would be happy if I did that,' Kirk was going to intervene but the man was probably suffering the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder which manifested in an endless chatter, 'you know,' he continued, 'I haven't even met her, my daughter. She was born while I was touring the Laurentian System with the Admiral. If I had died down there, I….oh goodness, I…'

'Commander,' Kirk snapped stopping right where he was firmly grabbing Da Silva's shoulders and saying, 'you're very much alive and you will see your baby daughter soon but, to do that, you need to hold yourself together, okay?' Da Silva didn't immediately reply, 'Commander, do you understand what I'm saying?'

'Y-yes sir,' the older man muttered then, swallowing hard, he visibly steeled himself and repeated, 'yes, sir!'

'Good,' Kirk said, 'because something tells me we'll have a lot of work to do.'

'Yes we do, sir,' Da Silva replied then, as they started walking again, he seemed to remember something and said, 'that Swiss knife-phaser thingy, the one you used to save our lives, where did you get that from?'

'Like I said, it was a present from my girlfriend,' Kirk replied and then, offering him a lopsided smile, he added, 'who happens to be an expert in advanced weaponry.'

'Wow,' the Commander gasped, 'better not piss her off, huh?'

'Yeah,' Kirk confirmed with a soft chuckle, 'she could probably kill me and make it look like an accident.'

The Commander laughed out loud once but the sight of the bridge's entrance made them both crash into the reality of their situation. Getting serious once again, Kirk pressed the code to release the door and stepped onto the bridge. The first thing that was amiss was that no one announced his arrival.

'Captain,' Mr Sulu said getting up from the commanding chair ready to start his report.

'Where's Mr Scott?' Kirk asked him first.

'He's down in Engineering, sir,' Sulu replied, 'Pasha…sorry, Mr Chekov is down there with him.'

'What happened?' Kirk asked.

'We're not even sure, sir,' Sulu said, 'all we know was that a few minutes after you and Commander Spock beamed down to the surface, six D4-class warbirds appeared out of nowhere. It's like one minute they weren't there and then, they were.'

'What do you mean?' Kirk asked him, 'did they beam themselves there?' he threw as a wild guess.

'I don't know,' Sulu repeated, 'but Mr Scott thinks they were using some sort of cloaking device.'

Kirk felt like someone had just punched him on his stomach.

'What happened next?' he dared to ask.

'I got the shields back up and we were going to warp out of here but the USS Hope…'

He stopped talking as if he'd suddenly noticed the stranger that had come onto the bridge with the Captain.

'What happened to her?' Da Silva asked Sulu who stole a glance at Kirk.

'This is Commander Riccardo Da Silva,' Kirk said as a formal introduction, 'he…he was Admiral Barnett's First Officer onboard the USS Hope. Since the Admiral is dead, the Commander is now her Acting Captain.'

'Oh,' was all Sulu could offer, 'I'm sorry to hear that.'

'What happened to my ship?' Da Silva insisted.

'I'm not sure, sir,' Sulu replied, 'but the last we saw of her she was trying to go into warp, but as damaged as she was, I…we just don't know if she made it out of there.'

'I see,' Da Silva bravely said.

'We bought her as much time as we could but our shields weren't holding up well against all that firepower.'

'It's okay,' Da Silva said smiling at Sulu gratefully, 'I'm sure you did your best. Thank you.'

Sulu just nodded.

'Okay,' Kirk intervened, 'how is our ship and, more importantly, where are we?'

'Mr Scott and Mr Chekov are making an inventory of the damage as we speak,' Sulu replied, 'they will start repairs as soon as they're done determining the priorities. As per our current location, we are behind a moon in the Alphacentauri sector. We're not sure which one though but it was the first place Mr Chekov could find that would mask us from their sensors.'

'So, we're hiding,' Kirk asked him.

'Yes, sir,' Sulu said, 'this is also the reason we haven't contacted Starfleet, Uhura said if we did the Klingons or the Romulans would be able to trace the communication back to us.'

'She's right,' Kirk said, 'speaking of, where is she?'

'Helping out there,' Sulu replied, 'we had a lot of injured people during the attack.'

The Captain fought with himself for composure while he silently prayed he would not be required to write any missives to relatives announcing the passing of a beloved one. After the large number of losses the Khan incident caused, he'd written enough of those to last him several lifetimes.

'Captain,' Commander Da Silva said bringing him back from his thoughts, 'what can I do to help?'

'I don't know,' Kirk honestly replied, he glanced at his helmsman asking him for a suggestion.

'We have a lot of data pertaining to the attack that we need to analyse,' Sulu said, 'but I'm not sure if…'

'I'll do it,' Da Silva said, 'just point me in the right direction and I'll do whatever it needs to be done.'

'Okay,' Sulu said.

'Mr Sulu,' Kirk said, 'I too will help with the data but first I need to go to Medical, you have the conn.'

'Yes, sir,' Sulu replied.

'Captain,' Da Silva said stopping him mid-step, 'I hope your First Officer will recover soon.'

'Me too,' Kirk replied.

He managed to make it to the door maintaining his captain-like poise but, as soon as he was off the bridge, Kirk started running like his life literally depended on it. He had tried acting functional as long as he could but right now, he simply could not focus on anything else other than the wellbeing of his Vulcan bondmate.

Because of this and by the time he arrived at Medical, Kirk found himself short of breath. Refusing to let this stop him, Kirk stepped into Dr McCoy's territory and something made him walk straight into one of the private rooms. There, through a glass, he could see Spock lying on his stomach, with his back exposed.

Sitting next to him and gently taking his hand between hers, he saw Lieutenant Uhura.

Seeing this made Kirk hesitate and, while he considered whether his presence in the room was necessary or not, he heard a familiar sounding footsteps approaching from his right side. He expected his best friend to start telling him off for having been in mortal peril once again but, instead, Dr McCoy's voice sounded soft:

'Jim.'

'Is he okay?' Kirk asked not removing his sight from the glass.

'He will be,' the doctor replied, 'Dr Kitagawa has repaired most of the damage, the rest, it's up to him.'

'What do you mean?' Kirk asked still not looking at him.

'He's gone into a healing trance,' McCoy explained, 'his Vulcan physiology will take care of the rest.'

'So, he'll be okay?' Kirk insisted.

'Yes, he will be okay,' the doctor confirmed showing an out of character patience.

It was that which made Kirk finally glance at his best friend and what he saw was not the relieved look that would match what the doctor had just said. Instead, Dr McCoy almost looked like he was in physical pain.

'Are you hurt?' Kirk asked him transferring his concern from one best friend onto the other.

'Come with me,' McCoy said clearly refusing to answer.

Knowing better than to argue with him, Kirk dutifully followed the doctor to what served as his private office. Once there, he took the seat that McCoy was offering him and while the doctor sat right next to him, Kirk noticed that there was a half-drank glass of bourbon sitting on top of his desk.

'What's wrong?' Kirk asked him, 'did we lose anyone?'

'Jim…'

'Is it Carol?' Kirk asked, this time his blue eyes widening with a mix of fear and worry, 'please…no…'

'Jim,' McCoy hurried to say, 'she's alive.'

'Oh, thank God,' Kirk said sounding relieved. The feeling lasted for a moment then, he frowned and said, 'what is it then?'

'Jim,' McCoy repeated for the third time, 'Carol is alive but, she's hurt,' he continued speaking before Kirk could interrupt him, 'during the first attack, she was standing on a walkway that was about two stories high and it seems like she fell over the rail. They brought her to me with several broken bones, including the pelvis,' the doctor stopped speaking allowing Kirk time to let it sink in then, he carried on, 'we're still working on her with the osteogenic stimulator to repair the fractures but…'

'Bones,' Kirk said with a pained voice, 'please tell me she'll be okay, please, I…'

'Given time, she will be,' McCoy said, 'but Jim, she reported several internal injuries and at first I thought that was what was causing the bleeding but, Jim…I'm sorry…I don't think there's a nice way of saying this so: she miscarried the baby. I'm really sorry for…'

The doctor stopped speaking noticing with horror that this was all news to Kirk.

'Dammit,' he muttered, 'you didn't know she was pregnant, did you?'

Kirk could only bring himself to shake his head.

'I'm so sorry Jim,' McCoy repeated, 'I'm really, really sorry…I...dammit, I probably shouldn't tell you…'

'What?' Kirk finally managed to say, 'what else is there?'

'Jim…'

'Dr McCoy,' Kirk asked with a steely voice, 'what else do I need to know?'

The doctor remained silent for a second and while it killed him to do it, he still finished his medical report:

'Due to the injuries sustained in her uterus, it is my professional opinion that it will be difficult, if not impossible, for Carol to conceive and carry a pregnancy to full term.'

_To be continued..._


	5. Chapter Four

**Star Trek XIV – Tomorrow is Now**

_Chapter Four_

A heavy silence fell upon the two of them while Dr McCoy watched Kirk's face as it transitioned from utter disbelief to a terrible sorrow that crunched his features as the younger man tried not to burst into tears. His usually sparkling blue eyes turned to a deep pool of dark sapphire which contained so much pain that it made the doctor's heart cringe with a level of sympathy he didn't know he was still capable of.

'Jim…' he muttered softly.

He tried moving his hand to his best friend's shoulder but, just then, something within Jim made him react against the touch, getting up so suddenly he toppled over his chair which hit the ground with a loud thud. Ignoring the piece of furniture, the very worried doctor watched Jim rush towards the farthest corner of the room where he stood facing the light grey wall, giving his back to the rest of the world.

'Jim, please…' McCoy said getting up to go and join him.

'Don't come any closer,' Jim begged with such a choked voice that didn't even sound like his.

'Jim…

'DAMMIT!' the Captain shouted furiously hitting the wall with both of his fists, 'DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!' he repeated, each time punctuating the exclamation with a bang that made the barrier visibly shake.

'Kiddo, don't do this to yourself,' McCoy tried again though he remained frozen on his seat. In all the years he'd known the Captain, he'd never seen him so upset: his entire body looked tensed up with a dangerous mix of pain, fury and impotence. This Jim Kirk was someone he simply didn't know and for all his medical expertise, he just didn't know how to deal with him. The solution came from an unexpected source.

'Doctor,' he heard a soft voice coming from the door.

Turning to see who had dared come into his office uninvited, McCoy saw Spock standing up wearing nothing but the white cotton trousers they had put on him after the treatment. He wasn't even wearing shoes.

'Spock…'

The Vulcan didn't speak another word and, with a purposeful step, he walked towards Kirk just as a worried looking Uhura also entered the office. She and McCoy both waited to see what would happen next but neither would have anticipated the scene that was about to unfold before their very eyes.

Kirk noticed Spock's presence even without turning round and, just then, he pivoted on his feet and without giving the Vulcan any warning, he came down crashing against Spock's naked chest, his fists interposed between that and his flushed face. There, Kirk started releasing his pain with copious but silent tears.

'_T'hy'la_,' Spock muttered so low that Uhura and McCoy barely caught it.

The Vulcan raised both of his arms, placing one around Kirk's waist, lifting the other and using his hand to cradle the back of his head. It was then when the doctor decided he and Uhura had seen enough.

'Let's give them some room,' he told her ushering her out of the office.

The Communications Officer just nodded, staring at the pair with sadness in her eyes.

'What happened?' she asked once the door was closed.

'Sorry, I can't tell you that,' McCoy replied.

'But…'

'What's Spock doing awake?' McCoy asked her instead.

'I don't know,' Uhura said, 'he was in his trance one moment then, all of a sudden, something woke him up and he just got up and came here. I tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen to anything I said.'

'I see,' McCoy said.

'Doctor…' Uhura tried again.

The chirping sound from one of the Medbay's intercoms prevented her from finishing her sentence.

'Sulu to Medical.'

'McCoy here,' the doctor said feeling almost glad for the interruption.

'Doctor,' the helmsman said, 'is the Captain still there with you?'

'Yes, he is,' McCoy replied, 'why?'

'Commander Da Silva and I have just found something and we wanted to tell him,' Sulu explained.

'It will have to wait,' McCoy decided, 'right now Kirk can't go anywhere.'

'But…'

'McCoy out,' the doctor said pressing the button to terminate the call, 'dammit man,' he continued as though as he was still talking to Sulu, 'the kid's human too, he needs some time to deal with stuff, you know?'

'Doctor McCoy,' a nurse said poking her head around a corner, 'we need you on biobed 104.'

'Okay,' he said then, ignoring Uhura's inquisitive look, he grabbed his tricorder and went to do his job.

Meanwhile, inside the CMO's office, it took a good ten minutes for Kirk to calm down enough for him to be able to gently push himself away from Spock's chest. The Vulcan didn't immediately release him, only when he deemed Kirk stable enough, he let his arms fall back onto his each of his sides.

'I'm sorry,' Kirk mumbled while trying to wipe his face using the sleeve of his formal uniform.

'There is no need to apologise, Jim,' Spock said evenly, 'something had obviously upset you and I provided you with the appropriate level of comfort in order to soothe your distress.'

Kirk couldn't help but to let out a sad sounding chuckle.

'Only you can make a hug sound like a medical procedure,' he tried to joke.

Spock had the decency to just lift his left eyebrow before he trained his features to his usual impassive self.

'What was the cause of your distress?' he then asked Kirk.

Kirk didn't immediately answer, as if he needed time to sort out his own thoughts.

'Carol got hurt during the attack,' he finally said, 'and she lost the baby she was carrying. I didn't even know she was pregnant…,' he stopped speaking and, sounding desperate, he demanded, 'why didn't she tell me?'

'It is likely she was still unaware of her condition,' Spock reasoned.

'What makes you say that?' Kirk asked him.

'Starfleet Regulation mandate that any crewmember must report to his or her superior officer, any change in their health condition which might impede the execution of their assigned duties,' Spock explained, 'this, of course, would include a pregnancy.'

Kirk remained quiet for a moment then, he nodded and said:

'It makes sense.'

Spock returned the nod but said nothing in return, probably waiting for Kirk to continue speaking.

'Bones said she'll be fine,' he obliged, 'but he said it will be difficult, if not impossible, for Carol to have kids.'

Once again, Spock chose not to speak, forcing Kirk to do so.

'I just…I…' he stopped not knowing how to continue, he did by taking refuge in sarcasm, 'you'll probably say it's better this way, right? I mean, what kind of a shitty father would I have made anyway? Right, Spock?'

Spock clearly did not share his opinion.

'I do not believe you would have made a poor father,' the Vulcan said, 'just as I do not believe you should rule out the possibility of parenthood with Dr Marcus,' he continued before Kirk could protest, 'if you had posed me this query before I made your acquaintance, I would have concurred with Dr McCoy's prognosis, as it is, I have found that if there is someone who consistently defies unfavourable odds, it is you, Captain.'

Kirk felt in shock all over again, only that, this time, he no longer felt like the universe was against him.

'You're right,' he told Spock braving a small smile, 'thank you, Spock.'

'You are welcome, Jim,' the Vulcan replied with a tired sounding voice.

Only then, Kirk seemed to remember two very important details his confounded brain seemed to have removed altogether. One, Spock had been almost fatally shot, two, he was not supposed to be awake, much less out of bed. The sickly look on his bondmate's face made him forget about all of his troubles.

'Spock,' he said, 'you should be in bed!'

'Indeed,' was all the Vulcan managed before he literally collapsed on top of Kirk.

'Oh shit,' the Captain said struggling to keep both of them upright.

Trying not to hurt Spock, he first tried taking him in his arms but the Vulcan turned out to be much heavier than Kirk imagined and this left him with no choice but to lower him onto the floor as carefully as he could. He then removed his jacket and, placing it under Spock's head, he rushed out of the room, finding Uhura.

'Give me a hand,' Kirk asked her.

The Communications Officer did not need to be asked twice and soon, the two of them lifted an unconscious Spock from the ground and proceeded to heave him as quickly as possible outside the office and onto the nearest empty biobed. Soon enough, a male nurse came to the rescue and, with his help, Kirk and Uhura managed to get Spock back in the biobed that he'd been originally assigned.

'Did he make his injuries worse?' Kirk asked the nurse.

'No, Captain,' the man replied, 'he's just sleeping.'

'Good,' Kirk replied sounding relieved, 'thanks.'

'You're welcome, sir,' the nurse replied, 'sir, are _you_ alright?'

'What?' Kirk asked then, realising his face was probably bloated due to all the crying, he lowered his gaze trying to look anywhere but at the nurse and said, 'yes, I'm fine, you may leave now.'

'Yes, sir,' the nurse said complying with the order.

When the man left, Kirk was left on his own with Uhura. She was trying to decide how to start what she knew would be a very awkward conversation but Dr McCoy sudden arrival spared her of the trouble:

'Carol's awake,' he simply said, 'and she wants to see you.'

The Captain looked panicked for a moment before he asked:

'Does she…does she know?'

'No,' McCoy replied.

Kirk didn't say anything to that and before Uhura could ask any questions, he turned to her and said:

'Can you please stay with him?'

'Of course,' she replied.

'Thanks,' Kirk said, 'I just don't want him to be alone.'

'Okay,' Uhura said, 'Captain,' she tried, 'if there's anything I can do for you…'

'You're already doing it,' Kirk said glancing at Spock's inert form. Uhura followed his gaze and nodded once.

'Okay,' she repeated.

With this, the Captain simply walked out of the room. Dr McCoy followed him and it wasn't until they were well out of Uhura's enhanced hearing range that the doctor felt confident enough to break his silence:

'What are you going to tell her?' he asked Kirk.

'Nothing,' he replied, 'unless she specifically asks, I don't think it's a good idea to tell her about the baby.'

'Yeah,' the doctor agreed.

'How is she?' Kirk asked.

'She's weak,' McCoy replied, 'but most of the fractures are on their way to be sealed. It's now a question of letting the bones naturally heal and continue with the regeneration of the tissues that were damaged. It's a slow process but eventually, she'll be fine.'

'Except…' Kirk couldn't make himself finish the sentence.

'No,' McCoy said, 'no matter how much we can regenerate, some wounds were too deep.'

'I don't want her to be informed of that either,' Kirk said resolutely, 'once she's strong enough, I will tell her myself.'

'Jim,' McCoy said, 'you don't need to do that, we can…'

'No,' Kirk stopped him, 'I'll tell her.'

'Okay,' the doctor accepted.

They made it to the relatively small Intensive Care Unit the ship came equipped with. There, Kirk saw that there were a number of biobeds in use, too many, as far as he was concerned. He made it a point to find out exactly how many crewmembers had been hurt and what their condition was, but first he had to see Carol.

'There she is,' McCoy said pointing at a biobed that was separated from the others by a curtain.

'Thanks,' Kirk said.

'If you need anything…' the doctor started.

'I'll come and find you,' Kirk said, 'thanks, Bones.'

'You're welcome, kiddo,' McCoy said allowing himself to show all the affection he felt for his crazy Captain.

Kirk made it to Carol's bed as quietly as he could trying not to disturb the other patients. He walked around the curtain and there, covered with one of Starfleet Medical white blankets, he found his beautiful girlfriend.

'Hey,' he whispered.

'Jim,' she said sounding as weak as she looked.

Taking a seat by her side, he touched her hand lightly before looking at her.

'You've been crying,' she commented.

'Yeah,' Kirk admitted, 'Spock got shot and then, they told me about you and…'

'I'll be fine,' she said being as brave as always.

'Yeah,' he said trying to match her courage, 'of course you will.'

'Is Spock alright?' she asked him.

'Yeah,' he repeated, 'he'll be fine too,' then, before she could say anything, he produced the Swiss army knife and offering her his best smile, he said, 'this little gadget of yours saved our lives, you know?'

'Really?' she asked looking pleased.

'I think you should patent it,' Kirk suggested, 'you could make a small fortune making more of them.'

'Maybe I will,' she said.

Her eyes began to look droopy and this made Kirk say:

'I should let you sleep.'

'No,' Carol said, 'I want to know what happened. I asked the doctors but no one wants to tell me anything.'

'The Klingons attacked the ship the minute Spock and I left for the surface,' Kirk explained, 'Mr Chekov found us a place where we can hide from the Klingons and the Romulans but we're unable to contact Starfleet because they'll be probably scanning space trying to find us.'

'There's a way to contact Starfleet,' Carol said.

'Really?' Kirk asked her.

'Yes,' she replied, 'I'm not sure if it's still active but I found out that my father used a special frequency to contact the head of Section 31, it uses the old X band radio frequency at 8 to 9 GHz and, since nobody bothers to scan for those frequencies anymore, the transmission is practically untraceable.'

'Section 31,' Kirk said almost as if he were talking to himself.

'I know it's less than ideal but they could relay your message to Starfleet,' Carol observed.

'No, no,' Kirk said, 'it's fine, it's more than fine,' he added, his brain already thinking of a potential way out of their current predicament, 'you're a genius, you know?' he asked her making her smile, 'and I love you.'

'I know,' she said.

'Carol, I…'

'Go,' she told him offering a reassuring smile, 'I'm not going anywhere, I promise.'

'Alright,' Kirk said, 'I'll be back as soon as I can.'

Giving her a quick, careful kiss, he took off, rushing to the bridge as fast as he could. When he arrived, he found Da Silva and Sulu engaged in an animated discussion along with several bridge crew members.

'Captain,' Sulu said.

'Hold on for a moment,' Kirk asked him, he then turned to the Communications Officer and after giving him the frequency, he sat down on his chair and said, 'contact them now.'

'Yes, sir,' the officer replied.

A few instants went by and just as Kirk thought the frequency was no longer operational, on screen he saw someone who Kirk never thought would be linked to Section 31. Just seeing the head of Starfleet there triggered every single alarm in his mind.

'Admiral Komack...' he started.

'Kirk,' the older man stopped him with a frustrated scowl, 'why are you still alive?'

His eyes widened before he turned at neck breaking speed and shouted at the Communications Officer to:

'TERMINATE TRANSMISSION!'

_To be continued…_


	6. Chapter Five

**Star Trek XIV – Tomorrow is Now**

_Chapter Five_

Sitting on the plush big chair overlooking the spacious office assigned to the head of Starfleet Command, Admiral James Komack felt a powerful sense of accomplishment. The grandeur that surrounded him made feel like he was the King of the World and for a long moment he let himself bask in that glorious sensation.

He'd made it.

It didn't matter if he'd had to lose a precious ally, Admiral Marcus (too impetuous) and a respected rival, Admiral Barnett (too scholarly) to get there. Now that he was in charge, Admiral Komack knew he would succeed where his predecessors had failed: he would get them the war the Federation desperately needed.

Whereas Marcus had been blinded by his hatred of the Klingons, Komack was a lot more rational and saw this conflict as the perfect opportunity to get rid of, not only the Klingons, but also the feared Romulans.

And he would be the one getting all the credit.

Who knew? Maybe one day they would elect him President of a massively extended Federation.

The buzz from his intercom interrupted his day-dreaming.

'Yes?' he answered sounding slightly annoyed.

'Admiral Komack,' his secretary announced, 'your eleven o'clock is here, sir.'

'Send him in,' he ordered.

'Yes, sir,' the secretary replied glad he could end the conversation.

Straightening up on the chair, Komack took a moment to check that his uniform was in pristine order then, he trained his round features to show the affable expression that had fooled so many people into thinking he was harmless. He knew that if people underestimated him, they be prone to lower their guard with him.

The junior officer who entered the office was about to become a prime example of this.

'Come in,' the Admiral said offering him a paternal smile.

'Admiral,' the young man said respectfully

'Sit down,' Komack ordered him pointing at one of the two chairs positioned in front of his massive desk. The man hurried to comply and, once the Admiral was sure he had his full attention, he started, 'Lieutenant Commander Gareth Mitchell,' he paused before continuing, 'you once were classmates with Captain James T. Kirk, were you not?'

'I was, sir,' Mitchell confirmed.

'I understand you two were friends,' Komack asked him.

'We are,' Mitchell replied, 'he helped me out with my Advanced Hand-to-Hand Combat lessons. I would not have passed that specific course if it wasn't for him. I owe him big, sir.'

'Oh,' Komack commented, 'that's unfortunate then.'

'Why is that, sir?' Mitchell asked allowing himself to look confused.

'Lieutenant,' Komack said, 'what I am about to tell you it's classified. Only the President and I are aware of this intel. Before we proceed, I must have your word that you will not disclose any portion of this conversation to anyone. Failing to do so will result in your immediate arrest for insubordination and treason.'

The young lieutenant looked appropriately taken aback.

'Do I have your word?' Komack pressed on.

'Yes,' Mitchell managed to reply, 'of course you do, sir.'

'Good,' Komack said.

'Sir,' Mitchell dared to ask, 'is Jim in trouble?'

Komack let out a humourless chuckle before replying:

'You can say that.'

'What's…'

'He's a traitor,' Komack announced, 'you've all heard about what went on in Nimbus III, haven't you?'

'Yes, but…'

'He was there,' the Admiral said, 'and we know that it was the Enterprise under his command that boycotted the peace treaty by delivering an unprovoked attack onto the Romulan and Klingon flagships. Then, he attacked the USS Hope as it tried to flee back home. We received what can only be described as a cry for help from the Hope describing what had happened. The transmission was abruptly terminated when, we assume, the Enterprise delivered her final blow on the poor Hope, killing everyone who was onboard, including the former head of Starfleet Command, Admiral Barnett.'

Mitchell was too stunned to articulate anything.

'Son,' Komack said repressing a smirk, 'I understand that hearing this is, to say the least, unsettling but…'

'Permission to be frank,' the Lieutenant finally requested.

'Granted,' Komack replied.

'I just don't think Jim Kirk would do something like that,' he tried to reason, 'I mean, I know the man has his issues with authority but, he would not just…I mean…he…'

'Lieutenant Mitchell,' Komack said feigning an understanding he did not feel, 'I know this is hard for you to accept but, we all know Kirk has been through a lot in these past few years. He was volatile ever since the day he enlisted but Admiral Pike had somehow managed to keep him in check. With Pike gone…let's just say it was a matter of time before something like this happened.'

'What do you want me to do?' Mitchell asked.

Komack smiled knowing he had the junior officer in his pocket.

'You've been selected for this mission because you know Captain Kirk's modus operandi,' the Admiral said, 'I'm going to give you the USS Defiant and give you a field promotion to Captain. You'll take a small crew of about fifty members and will go to the Enterprise's last known location at the Alphacentauri sector.'

'And then?' Mitchell asked him.

'Ideally,' Komack said, 'I would like you to arrest Kirk but I know he's going to do his best to resist. For this reason, you have carte blanche to do whatever you think it's necessary to stop his madness.'

'Sir,' Mitchell said just to be sure, 'are you asking me to destroy our flagship?'

'Not explicitly,' the Admiral replied, 'but if that's what you have to do, you have mine and the President's blessing to proceed. What's important here is to remove the threat that Kirk and the Enterprise pose.'

'But sir…'

'Mitchell,' Komack said, 'the President and I have our hands full, I can tell you he's about to declare war against the Klingon and the Romulan Empires. As you can understand, we simply cannot afford any distraction and, you of all people, know how devastatingly lethal Kirk can be now he's gone rogue.'

'I understand,' Mitchell conceded.

'Good,' the Admiral said, 'one more thing: since you'll be travelling in that direction, I would like you to deliver a very important cargo to one of our facilities in the area. It shouldn't take too long so, once you're done, you are to focus your energies in finding and stopping Kirk, whatever the cost, understood?'

'Yes, sir,' Mitchell replied standing to attention.

'Good,' Komack said. He stood up too and, accompanying the young officer out of the room, he confided one last secret, 'Mitchell, if you succeed in this mission, Starfleet will make the field promotion permanent.'

'Really?' Mitchell asked.

'Of course,' Komack replied, 'Captain Gareth Mitchell of the USS Defiant sounds good, doesn't it?'

The young man was too modest to agree but, deep down, he too thought Captain had a nice ring to it.

'Well Captain Mitchell, report to Space Dock 1,' the Admiral continued, 'and keep me posted.'

'Aye, sir,' he replied sounding a little grateful and quite a lot terrified.

Once the newly promoted Captain was out of his office, Komack closed the door and, leaning on it, he scowled feeling slightly disappointed: manipulating people, especially young ones, was simply too easy.

'Oh well,' he muttered pushing himself away from the door and walking back to his desk.

After nearly three long days, the Enterprise was trying to make it to the nearest Starfleet post running on impulse only since going into warp would alert of their presence to whoever was still looking for them. The tension was obvious throughout the whole ship and every crewmember felt different levels of anxiety.

Sitting on his chair, Kirk was reading Engineering's latest update on the ship's repairs when Commander Da Silva stepped onto the bridge. The Brazilian officer was wearing the standard gold and had acclimated himself so well among the bridge crew that Kirk found it difficult to believe he hadn't always been there.

'Captain,' Da Silva said, 'I've found what we were looking for.'

'What is it?' Kirk said putting his PADD down.

'The Hope transmitted something just before…' he stopped talking not wanting to say what by now everybody knew, '…well, they tried hailing Starfleet Command and it looks like they succeeded. I asked Lieutenant Uhura to help me with it because it was fairly scrambled.'

'What did they say?' Kirk asked.

'They reported everything that had happened, including the fact that they'd lost both their CO and XO.'

'Only they didn't,' Kirk said looking at Da Silva with a tight smile.

'Yeah,' he said, 'but I think that if Starfleet received the message…'

'The Federation will have no choice but to declare war,' Kirk finished for him grimly.

'Yeah,' Da Silva agreed sounding equally sombre.

'Permission to come to the bridge,' they both heard Scotty's voice coming in from the turbolift, he was accompanied by an almost fully recovered Spock and a nervous looking Chekov; Kirk nodded his agreement, 'laddie,' the Chief Engineer said prodding at the young Russian, 'tell the Captain what you've found out.'

'Er…'

'What is it Mr Chekov?' Kirk asked him with an encouraging smile.

'It is the magnetite, sir,' the Ensign said, 'I think they're using it in their device.'

Kirk obviously looked slightly puzzled and Spock took it upon himself to elaborate:

'Mr Chekov has established that one of the main components in the cloaking device employed to conceal the Klingon warbirds is the magnetite that we found lining the cave in Nimbus III. We have also found that the Federation was aware of the mining activities conducted there by the Romulan Empire.'

'I see,' Kirk said.

He was still processing what this information meant when the Orion Ensign manning Communications said:

'Sir, I'm receiving a distress call.'

'On speaker,' he ordered her.

'…please…' they all heard a panicked voice, one that Kirk found oddly familiar, 'this is the USS Defiant, if anyone can hear us…' the transmission became unintelligible, then they heard, '…please help us…'

Then it stopped again.

'Get them back!' Kirk ordered the Ensign.

'I'm trying, sir,' she said, 'I just…they're gone…'

'What's their location?' Kirk asked Sulu who was already trying to pinpoint the signal's source.

'They're not too far,' the helmsman said, 'about three hundred thousand kilometres, sir.'

'How long would it take us to get there?' Kirk asked him.

'Five minutes,' Sulu replied.

Kirk instinctively glanced at Spock who was also looking at him. The Captain and First Officer exchanged a full wordless conversation at the end of which Spock gave him a minuscule nod allowing Kirk to go ahead.

'Okay,' the Captain said, 'lay in the coordinates, Mr Sulu. Mr Scott, go back to Engineering, make sure the ship holds up.'

'Sir, all due respect but…'

'Scotty,' Kirk interrupted him, 'I know she's not all patched up yet…'

'That's an understatement,' Scott complained, 'we've just finished fixing the shields, if…'

'This is precisely the reason you need to go down to Engineering,' Kirk countered, 'I swear I will try to keep us out of trouble but, if we need to put up a fight, I need to know you're there to keep her together, okay?'

'Aye, Captain,' Scott replied sounding vaguely mutinous but leaving the bridge nevertheless.

'Good,' Kirk replied, 'Mr Chekov, you'll help Mr Scott from here, keep an eye on the shield's readings.'

'Yes, sir,' the Russian Ensign said taking his usual seat next to Sulu's station.

'Mr Sulu,' he then ordered, 'take us there.'

'Aye, aye, Captain,' the helmsman replied.

Kirk felt Spock return to his seat while Commander Da Silva leant back against the bridge's handrail.

'Kirk to Medical,' the Captain said pressing his intercom's button.

'McCoy here,' the doctor replied.

'Bones,' Kirk said, 'we're answering a distress call, make sure your team is ready to handle eventual injuries.'

'We're doing what-now?' the doctor asked sounding profoundly astonished.

'You heard me,' Kirk said quickly running out of patience, 'Kirk out.'

'Wait!' he heard the doctor's exclamation, 'what happened to our whole "let's stay hidden" plan?'

'Dr McCoy,' Kirk said, 'it's a Federation ship, we heard the call and we're going there to help them. That's that, now stop wasting time and get your supplies ready, something tells me we're going to need them.'

'Yeah, sure,' the doctor replied now sounding positively annoyed.

'Kirk out,' the Captain repeated.

A couple of minutes later, they got their first visual of the USS Defiant and it sent a shiver down their backs.

'Oh crap,' Kirk heard Da Silva whisper from behind him.

The Federation ship was literally surrounded by four Klingon warbirds. They had done a number on the primary hull and one of the aft nacelles was all but gone while the other one hadn't fared much better.

'Hail them now!' the Captain ordered.

'I can only get their audio channel,' the Orion girl informed him sounding a little nervous.

'That'll do,' Kirk said, 'open it up.'

'Yes, sir,' she replied.

'This is Captain James T Kirk from the USS Enterprise hailing the USS Defiant, do you copy?'

'Jim!' he heard the same panicked voice from earlier, 'is it really you?'

'Gary?' Kirk asked sounding utterly surprised.

'Please help me,' the poor guy said, 'our transporters…'

The audio was gone as one of the warbirds fired another charge at the poor Defiant.

'How many people are onboard?' Kirk asked Chekov.

'Fifty-one, sir,' the young man replied.

'Try to get their signal and beam them aboard as quickly as you can,' Kirk ordered then, to the helmsman, he said, 'those Klingons have probably seen us by now, try to divert their attention from the Defiant.'

'Yes, sir,' Sulu replied.

Kirk knew Scotty would hate him for doing this to their ship but, tightening his grip on the armrests, he silently begged the Enterprise to do the impossible one more time so that they would get out of there alive.

With mounting panic, he saw three of the D4 class warbirds coming their way, two of them opening fire almost immediately. Thankfully, the newly repaired shields did their job while Sulu aimed a series of photon torpedoes at them. The first four missiles failed to do much damage but the fifth hit a weak spot on one of the warbirds, provoking a major explosion on the ship's hull and taking it out of commission.

'Evasive manoeuvres, Mr Sulu!' Kirk ordered.

The helmsman engaged the Enterprise in a series of zig-zag moves trying to dodge the incoming fire while firing a few well placed hits of their own. Kirk was once again in awe at Sulu's supreme piloting skills.

'I'm almost done,' Chekov reported, 'computating location for the final batch...' he recited then, he pressed another series of buttons while Sulu fired yet another charge, 'it's DONE! Everyone's onboard, Captain!'

'Great job,' Kirk said then, to Sulu he yelled, 'get us out of here! Maximum warp!'

'Yes, sir,' the helmsman replied happy to comply.

Kirk got up from his chair the moment they got the Enterprise out of the area. He wasn't too bothered about where they were going just as long as they put as much distance between the Klingon warbirds and his ship.

'Spock, you have the conn,' he said as he stepped out of the bridge.

'Yes, Captain,' he barely heard the Vulcan's reply.

Rushing towards the transporter room, he found an abnormal amount of people gathered there. Kirk assumed they were the fifty one members from the USS Defiant's crew. McCoy, the Captain was relieved to see, was already there with his team, tending the thankfully minor injuries some crewmen had suffered.

'Jim,' Gary Mitchell said when he spotted him.

'What the hell are you doing in here?' Kirk asked after giving him a quick hug.

'It's a long story,' Mitchell said clearly not wanting to elaborate, 'but I must thank you, if it wasn't for you…'

'It's alright,' Kirk interrupted him with a smile, 'I'm just glad there were no casualties among your men.'

'Yeah,' Mitchell said, 'but we lost our cargo. The Admiral is not going to be pleased.'

'What Admiral?' Kirk asked him even though his gut feeling already knew the answer.

'Komack,' Mitchell replied, 'he gave me seventy three crates to take to a facility in the Alpha Centauri sector.'

Hearing the number made Kirk's heart skip a beat.

'Can you say that again?' he still managed to ask.

'What part?' Mitchell asked him looking confused.

By then Dr McCoy had joined them and, exchanging a worried glance with Kirk, he said:

'Please don't tell me it's what I think it is.'

'Yeah,' Kirk said, 'I think it's exactly what you think it is.'

'What's going on?' Mitchell asked him.

'You didn't know what they contained, those crates?' Kirk asked.

'Not really,' Mitchell replied, 'I didn't bother asking, why?'

Kirk took a moment to reply and when he did, he made McCoy drop his tricorder:

'Because we've just handed Khan and his crew to the Klingons.'

_To be continued…_


	7. Chapter Six

**Star Trek XIV – Tomorrow is Now**

_Chapter Six_

Without giving himself time to think, Kirk turned round and rushed back to the bridge as fast as he could, barging in so suddenly that it took everyone by surprise. He didn't even give time to Chekov to announce his return.

'Mr Sulu,' he ordered instead, 'take us back to where we came from.'

'S-sir?' the helmsman asked looking confused and slightly alarmed.

'Take us back, now!' Kirk exclaimed.

Sulu hesitated only for a moment during which he considered whether his Captain had finally lost his marbles but soon his professionalism kicked in and he found himself inputting the coordinates that would essentially force the Enterprise to do a one hundred and eighty degree turn at mid-warp doing the equivalent of a handbrake spin. This delicate manoeuvre kept his brain busy enough to stop considering the madness of what he was doing.

'Captain,' he somehow heard Spock say with his usual calm tone of voice, 'I am certain there is a reason that supports your actions but…'

'It's Khan,' Kirk said and that single syllable made the entire bridge hold their breath, including Spock himself but the Vulcan was smart enough to let the Captain explain himself, 'per Admiral Komack, the Defiant was carrying 73 crates to an unknown facility in the Alpha Centauri sector.'

'That's right,' Mitchell said appearing out of nowhere.

'Captain,' Spock tried to reason, 'the number of crates might just be a coincidence.'

'No, it's not a coincidence,' Kirk countered with the unwavering confidence which persuaded everyone to believe him, 'you've seen it yourself: Admiral Komack is now the head of Sector 31. Guess who was in charge of safely storing the cryotubes containing Khan and his crew?'

'The Admiral,' Spock replied obediently.

'Exactly,' Kirk said.

'Captain,' Da Silva intervened, 'the Defiant was damaged beyond repair, surely her life support systems were failing…'

'That is irrelevant,' Spock objected, 'the cryotubes are designed to survive without oxygen, they could literally drift around space for centuries without affecting the bodily integrity of the person inside them.'

'Fantastic,' the Commander said sarcastically, 'what are we going to do then?'

'We need to get to them before the Klingon find them,' Kirk replied.

'I'm sorry…' Mitchell said, 'if I had known…'

'I've told you not to worry about that,' Kirk ordered him, 'you were just following orders.'

'Yeah,' Mitchell said looking a lot guiltier than he should feel.

Kirk noticed this but he was too busy trying to prepare his ship for yet another unfriendly encounter to ask about it. He sat on his chair, ordered to get their shields up and waited for them to drop out of warp.

When they did, they were met by nothing but a relatively small debris field.

The Klingons were gone. And so was the Defiant's relict.

'Shit,' Kirk couldn't help but to swear.

'What now?' Da Silva asked him.

Kirk frowned deep in thought for a moment before pressing the chair's intercom button and say:

'Kirk to Medical.'

'McCoy here,' the doctor replied.

'If you're done at medbay, come and join us at the ready room: we're going to hold an emergency meeting.'

'I'll be up in a minute,' his best friend replied.

A short while later, having left the rest of his crew on red alert with all eyes peeled for anything remotely hostile, Kirk headed a table with his command crew sitting around it, Spock, Dr McCoy, Scott, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov were joined by Commander Da Silva and Gary Mitchell. The only one missing, Kirk noticed with a pang, was Dr Marcus who was still confined to a biobed down in medical while she recovered.

'Alright,' he said shaking the sad thought, 'time is of the essence so I'll be brief. For those who don't know him, this is…I guess it's Captain now, isn't it?' he asked glancing at Mitchell.

'No,' the young man replied sounding oddly serious, 'it's still Lieutenant Commander.'

'Ah, okay,' Kirk said, 'this is Lieutenant Commander Mitchell; Admiral Komack put him in charge of delivering what I believe were the cryotubes containing Khan and his crew to a location in Alpha Centauri.'

'That's not entirely accurate,' Mitchell interrupted him.

'Which part?' Kirk asked him looking confused.

The Lieutenant hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath hoping to get the courage he needed.

'The delivery was only part of a mission,' he started, 'the other part…well…' he glanced nervously around the table before blurting out, 'Admiral Komack ordered me to hunt you down and destroy the Enterprise.'

Predictably, several gasps were heard around the table, plus the sound of a chair being toppled over.

'You bast…'

'BONES!' Kirk shouted, 'settle down!'

The doctor threw a murderous glance at Mitchell before glaring at Kirk too. The Captain remained impassive until McCoy returned to his seat then, looking at his former classmate with a frown which denoted worry more than anger, he asked him:

'Why did he order you that?'

'He thinks you've betrayed the Federation,' Mitchell hurried to explain, 'he said you had boycotted the peace treaty and that you had destroyed the USS Hope killing everyone onboard, including Admiral Barnett.'

'That's not true,' Da Silva interjected, 'I served as the USS Hope's First Officer and I was right there when a couple of Romulan soldiers killed the Admiral and, as per the Enterprise boycotting the peace treaty, neither the Klingons nor the Romulans had any intention of seeing it through. The whole thing was a trap and, if anything, it's thanks to the Enterprise and her crew if I'm standing here talking to you.'

Mitchell looked as though someone had slapped him across the face.

'I knew it couldn't be true,' he muttered very quietly.

Kirk observed him for a moment before he shook his head resolutely and said:

'It doesn't matter, what's done it's done.'

'Jim!' McCoy protested.

'He is right, doctor,' Spock agreed speaking for the first time, 'it is most unproductive to concern ourselves with something which cannot be altered. We should focus our attention to our current situation.'

'That's right,' Kirk said offering his First Officer a quick smile, 'I have a rough idea of what I'd like to do but I want to run it by you and listen to what you have to say.'

'Let's hear it,' Scotty said looking half interested, half terrified.

'I'm going to call the Romulans and the Klingons out,' was Kirk's alarming announcement.

'You're what?' Sulu couldn't help but to ask.

'We cannot keep hiding forever,' Kirk reasoned, 'it's clear to me that as long as we keep stalling, things will get more and more out of control.'

'I understand that,' the pilot said, 'but shouldn't we go after the Klingons? Like you said, if they find Khan and his crew...'

'No,' Kirk replied, 'for starters we don't even know where they went and going on a wild chase could mean we'd get caught off guard. Instead,' he explained, 'we must be prepared and call them out in our own terms. What we need to do is…'

'Get all the players to show their cards, right?' McCoy asked using one of his poker-based metaphors.

'Something like that,' Kirk replied, 'although I would prefer to think of it as a game of chess,' this made Spock's eyebrow twitch, 'right now we've been all staying off the board, I think it's time we all got our pieces on it and played.'

'That makes sense,' Chekov was brave enough to say.

'Thanks for the support,' the Captain said smiling at the kid gratefully.

'You two are mental,' Scotty said instead, 'Captain, all due respect but the ship's not fully repaired, if we're to engage in a battle, I cannot guarantee she'll come out of it in once piece.'

'Let's hope it doesn't come to that, then,' Kirk said seriously.

'What do you mean?' Da Silva asked him.

'Contrary to popular belief,' he said looking pointedly at Scott, 'I'm not entirely crazy. I think that a battle is the worst case scenario and while we must prepare for that, I am hoping we'll find a different way out.'

'Which is?' McCoy asked him.

'I'm not sure yet,' Kirk honestly replied, 'but I think we all need to be ready for whatever comes our way,' he added then, he looked at Spock and talking as if he'd considered the issue at length, he said, 'but before that we should dock at the nearest Starfleet post and evacuate all the injured we have aboard, including you.'

'My apologies, Captain,' Spock said coolly, 'but I believe I misunderstood you.'

'No, Spock,' Kirk replied, 'you literally just got back on your feet, if this goes south and we must fight our way out, I worry you'll just overdo yourself, Spock, I…I can't ask you to…'

'Captain,' the Vulcan stopped him sounding as desperate as a Vulcan could manage, 'I can assure you that my health has significantly improved in these past few days and I am as fit for duty as I was before the mission in Nimbus III, I therefore request you reconsider your decision.'

'No,' Kirk insisted his blue eyes shining with some powerful emotion, 'I…I don't want you to get hurt again.'

'I shall endeavour not to,' Spock promised him.

'You cannot be sure of that,' Kirk objected.

'No, I cannot,' Spock agreed, 'however I would find it very…troublesome, if you were to send me away.'

'Spock…' Kirk started then, visibly changing his mind, he glanced at McCoy partially to get his support, also so that he could get a professional opinion, 'Bones, what do you think, is he really fit for duty?'

The doctor stared at Spock for a moment then he glanced at Kirk and said:

'Yes, he is.'

Everyone around the table witnessed the brief moment in which Spock showed his gratitude towards the doctor. Sadly, Dr McCoy was too busy staring at Kirk while the Captain considered his options to notice such a historic moment.

'Okay,' Kirk said, 'we'll just disembark those who are confined to bed rest, can you take care of that?'

'Yes, I can,' the doctor replied.

'Alright,' Kirk said this time looking at Spock, 'you can stay but I want you to take it easy, okay?'

'Yes, Captain,' the Vulcan agreed.

'Okay then,' Kirk continued, 'the rest of you will need to work on readying the ship for battle, meanwhile Lieutenant Uhura, Spock and I will find a way to get everyone's attention. Any questions?'

'Yes,' Mitchell said, 'is there anything my men and I can do?'

Kirk thought about it for a bit and then he said:

'You can all help down in Engineering, that's where most of the work needs to be done.'

'Okay,' the Lieutenant said, he glanced at Scotty and said, 'I'm at your orders then.'

'You sure are,' the Chief Engineer said, 'I'll make you work extra hard for even thinking of hurting her.'

Everyone around the table shivered seeing the glint in the Scotsman's eyes.

'Alright,' Kirk repeated, 'let's get to work, you're all dismissed.'

With this, he got up and walked out of the room followed closely by Spock. Kirk started issuing a series of instructions to Uhura while Scotty and Chekov talked about how to redistribute their workload now they had more hands to help out. Sulu and Da Silva followed the group quietly but McCoy allowed himself to fall at the back of the group where he waited for Lieutenant Mitchell.

'Hey,' the doctor hissed brusquely grabbing his arm, 'you should thank your lucky star he's so forgiving.'

'I know,' Mitchell said looking rather depressed, 'to be honest, I hope he never changes because without his compassion, he'd be a brutal killing machine. I should know, with all the times he went easy on me when we both knew he could have kicked my ass anytime he wanted.'

'Yeah,' McCoy said glancing at Kirk's back as the Captain walked away, 'he is special that way.'

'Yes, he is,' Mitchell agreed.

'But I'm not,' McCoy warned him, 'so if you so much as think of hurting him again…so help me God.'

'I won't,' Mitchell promised solemnly.

A few light years away there was a small Klingon fleet half hidden by a group of asteroids. The squadron was led by what was one of three fastest D-7 warbirds of the Klingon Defence Force, the IKS Gr'oth, commanded by the impressively large Captain Koloth. He, Captain Kor and Captain Kang were known among their kind for their legendary friendship, as well as their epic military campaigns.

'Captain,' the First Officer said, 'we've finished loading the cargo recovered from the relict.'

'Good,' Captain Koloth said, 'find out what it is. If it's valuable, we might use it against them. If not, dispose of it immediately, I do not wish to soil my ship with filth from the Federation.'

'Understood,' the Klingon officer said hitting his chest with his fist.

'Be quick,' Koloth advised him, 'Kor and Kang are eagerly awaiting our arrival.'

'Yes, sir,' the warrior replied repeating the traditional salute.

Hurrying down to the cargo area, he found that a group of their best engineers were already working on uncovering a couple of the crates. He arrived when they extracted what appeared to be a tube of sorts.

'What is it?' he asked.

'We're not sure,' the engineer replied, 'but there's a frozen human in it.'

'Can you open it?' the First Officer asked.

'We can try,' the engineer replied then, with heavy fingers, he started randomly pressing the buttons on the tiny console. Just as he was about to give up, a series of beeps came out of the tube and then, a green light started flashing on top of it. The speed of the flashes increased until, a moment later, there was a clasp.

'Is it open?' the Klingon warrior asked.

'It looks like it,' the engineer said.

The two of them were joined by a couple of other Klingons, they were all curious to see what or, rather, who would come out of the weird device when, all of a sudden, they saw a pair of fists crashing against the cryotube's glass shattering it. Startled, they all took a step back but they weren't nearly fast enough for the force that was about to unleash upon them.

The 300 year old Augment jumped out of the tube and, before any of the Klingons could realise what was happening, he started taking them one after another until just one of the engineers was left standing.

'What's the year?' the man asked him in a weird sounding language.

Unable to understand him, the Klingon just shook his head and then, he tried to retrieve a weapon from one of his fallen comrades when the Augment jumped on him, snapping his neck in one clean move. With no one left to bother him, he scanned the area finding what he'd been looking for: his crewmembers.

'Master,' he said to no one in particular, 'soon you shall be free.'

_To be continued…_


	8. Chapter Seven

**Star Trek XIV – Tomorrow is Now**

_Chapter Seven_

After they docked on the Outpost 7, near the border with the Romulan Neutral Zone, Dr McCoy and his team transported every bedridden patient, sixty-four of them, from the Enterprise's sickbay to their much larger and better equipped medical facility. Dr Marcus, as Kirk had predicted, refused the transfer for as long as she could and the Captain only managed to persuade her when he told her that at the outpost they had just installed the latest model of an osteogenic regenerator and with that machine, according to Dr McCoy, her convalescence would be significantly reduced.

'You'll be back on your feet real soon, you'll see,' Kirk had promised as they were taking her away.

While they were there, the Captain asked the Commodore who managed the station to relay two separate messages; one addressed to the President's office, the other was sent to Admiral Komack himself.

A week after that, the Enterprise found itself right where everything had started: orbiting around Nimbus III, waiting for the Romulans, the Klingons or the Federation. Whoever came first.

'Is the beacon for the Romulans still active?' Kirk asked speaking from his chair at the bridge.

'Yes, sir,' Uhura replied, 'we're broadcasting it through all channels, all frequencies in all three of their dialects.'

'What about the message in Klingon?' he asked.

'It's also being sent at regular intervals,' she confirmed, 'I've double-checked with the computer records to make sure my translation of the traditional Klingon fight challenge was accurate.'

'Just out of curiosity,' Da Silva asked her, 'what are we telling them exactly?'

'We're saying,' Uhura replied, 'with respect, come out and show your honour.'

'Straight to the point,' Chekov commented, 'I like it.'

'Let's hope they like it too,' Kirk said with a tight smile.

'Captain,' Sulu announced, 'I'm detecting an incoming ship. I…I don't recognise its registry.'

'It's the Admiral,' Kirk said sounding eerily calm, 'shields up, red alert, Mr Sulu.'

'Aye, Captain,' the helmsman replied.

'So it begins,' Da Silva commented from his tactical station.

Nobody on the bridge paid much attention to him for they were all too busy trying to fulfill their roles as efficiently as possible but when the unknown Federation vessel showed up, they all realised that, for all their precaution, nothing would have prepared them for what appeared in front of their eyes.

'That's impossible!' a stunned Sulu exclaimed.

Kirk found himself swallowing hard as he watched a near replica of the USS Vengeance dropping out of warp right next to the Enterprise, dwarfing her just as her predecessor had done before.

The sight made the Captain wonder how very badly monitored the Federation's resources were to allow for a group of lunatics to embezzle enough credits to finance the construction of, not one, but two dreadnaught class vessels. To say nothing of the vast workforce they had managed to enroll in the task somehow.

'Captain…' he managed to hear Spock's warning tone.

'I know,' Kirk replied taking an involuntary intake of air.

'W-we're being hailed,' Uhura said her usually steady voice trembling a little.

'On screen,' the Captain ordered her.

The entire bridge crew had an odd sense of déjà-vu when they saw the Admiral presiding over a dark coloured bridge, the design of which was identical to the one Admiral Marcus had commanded from.

'Kirk,' was all Komack said as a way of greeting.

'Admiral,' he bravely replied.

'You sure have guts,' the older man said but his tone did not show any admiration, 'but your bravery is only outclassed by your stupidity. Did you really think you could summon me here and get away with it?'

'I had to try,' Kirk said instilling as much nonchalance in his words as he could.

'Your good luck is truly legendary,' Komack taunted him, 'however, it ends now: arm cannons!'

Kirk barely had time to register that the transmission had been terminated when he saw the two protruding superstructures slowly charging up, getting ready to blow the Enterprise into smithereens. Scotty had performed one of his usual miracles in order to transfer all available energy to the ship's defensive mechanisms but…would that be enough?

'Sir!' Sulu shouted, 'I'm getting two more readings!'

'Klingons?' Kirk asked doing his best to remain calm.

'No Captain,' he replied sounding rather pleased, 'they're ours: it's the USS Intrepid and…oh no way…'

He ran out of time to explain himself when two Federation ships dropped out of warp simultaneously, aligning themselves in between the Enterprise and the huge, unnamed vessel. At their left, the Republic-class Intrepid, at their right, a sight which provoked a surprised gasp among some of the Enterprise's bridge crew.

'How is that even possible?' a shocked Da Silva asked to himself.

'Sir,' Uhura said offering one of her brilliant smiles, 'the USS Hope is haling us.'

'Get them on screen,' Kirk replied returning the grin.

'Hello?' a young Andorian female said from the Captain's chair.

'Hello there,' Kirk replied feeling too pleased to reprimand the junior officer for her lack of formality.

'Lieutenant Talas!' Commander Da Silva said stepping out of his station.

'Commander!' she exclaimed happily, her blue skin becoming a little paler probably due to the surprise, 'we thought you were dead! We lost your signal and then…'

'We thought you were destroyed,' Kirk intervened, sensing this chat would waste time they did not have.

'We were badly damaged, sir,' the officer replied, 'our communications were fried and we had to repair the warp core, it's taken us this long to be able to pick up any readings, yours was the first one we did.'

'Lucky for us,' the Captain said.

'They're ready to fire,' Sulu announced.

'They will not do that,' Talas promised, her eyes showing the fighting spirit her kind was so famous for.

'How can be so sure?' Da Silva asked her.

'Because the President is onboard the Intrepid, sir,' the Andorian replied shaking both of her antennas.

'The President?' Kirk asked, 'you mean _our_ President?'

'Affirmative, Captain,' Talas replied, 'they hailed us while we were on route here and, after we were briefed by His Excellency regarding the events on Nimbus III, he promised he would help us rescue you.'

Kirk was too grateful to let his pride be wounded. Instead, he turned his gaze to the portion of the viewscreen that showed what was going on outside. With a start, he saw the unknown Federation vessel attempting to go into warp but was forced to abort her escape by the sudden arrival of a massive Romulan fleet. From his chair, the Captain saw Komack's ship executing an evasive maneuver in order to avoid a direct collision with at least six enemy vessels, one of them Kirk recognised as Captain Decius'.

Soon, the Admiral's ship was surrounded by Romulan birds-of-prey, all looking ready to strike.

'Captain,' Da Silva requested, 'with your permission, I'd like to beam back to the USS Hope.'

'Yeah,' Kirk said, 'it's now or never.'

'Thank you,' the Commander said speaking as fast as he could, 'it's been an honour serving you.'

'The honour was all mine,' Kirk replied with a quick smile.

Riccardo Da Silva squared himself and, offering a quick salute, he rushed out of the bridge and to the transporter from where he ordered Talas to lower the Hope's shields just for as long as it took for him to get onboard their ship. A moment later, he stepped on the bridge, replacing Talas as her Acting Captain.

'Captain,' the very busy Uhura said, 'we're…'

'On screen,' Kirk said not even letting her finish.

For the third time, they saw the interior of yet another bridge only that, this time, it was the very unfamiliar layout of a Romulan warbird. Sitting on a high chair, flanked by two warriors who seemed more like bodyguards than actual bridge officers, they saw a distinguished looking Romulan.

'Greetings,' he said sounding almost pleasant, 'I am Commander Keras, from the ChR Gal Gath'thong. You are, I assume, the human known as James T. Kirk from the USS Enterprise.'

'That is correct,' Kirk confirmed threading cautiously.

'We have received your missive,' Commander Keras said, 'and as the oldest member of my House, I am allowed to parlay on behalf of our leadership. With that said, I would like you to name your terms.'

'It's fairly simple,' Kirk replied, 'all the Federation wants is peace, if you grant us that, you have my solemn word that I will give you the information I have regarding the future of your home planet.'

'You mentioned Romulus is in grave danger,' Keras asked him neutrally.

'It is,' Kirk replied, 'I know for a fact that in the not too faraway future, Romulus will be destroyed by a force of nature. The information only we have will allow you sufficient time to prepare yourselves.'

'I see,' the Commander said pensively, 'I would like to ask for some time while I meditate on the matter.'

'Of course,' Kirk said still trying to keep a cool expression, 'take as much time as you need but, while you do so, I respectfully request you consider the fact that a full scale war would not benefit either of us.'

'I shall consider that,' Keras said fractionally bowing his head.

The transmission ended right there but, very soon, another one interrupted the sepulchral silence which had fallen upon the bridge. Kirk was about to ask Uhura what was happening now when Sulu exclaimed:

'Klingon warbird incoming at mark 2!'

'You have got to be kidding me,' Kirk exclaimed sighing his frustration.

'Just one?' Spock asked ignoring his Captain's remark.

'Yes, sir,' Sulu confirmed.

'Oh no…' a horrified looking Uhura said.

'What is it, Lieutenant?' Kirk asked her.

'They're not speaking Klingon,' she replied, 'what I'm picking up it's…it's…ancient Urdu, sir.'

'Urdu?' Kirk asked.

'It is a language still spoken in parts of India and Pakistan,' Spock supplied not very helpfully.

'Thanks,' Kirk deadpanned, 'who would…' he stopped speaking as his brain finally made the connection.

'It's Khan, isn't it?' Chekov asked from his seat, voicing everyone's worst fears.

'Yes,' Uhura replied.

'Well,' Kirk said sounding resigned, 'let's think positive: we'll deal with our troubles all at once.'

'Captain,' Spock commented flatly, 'oftentimes I find your optimism difficult to understand.'

Kirk just smirked at him before returning his attention to the deadly calm that reigned outside his ship: like on a chessboard, each piece had been laid out: the Romulan warbirds had spread out like a fan keeping Komack's ship on check, making it impossible for him to go anywhere while the Hope and the Intrepid remained static not far from the Enterprise as if they were two knights protecting their king.

'Sir,' Uhura said, 'the President just sent word: he will, as you requested, not reveal his presence to the Romulans until you advise him to do so.'

'Good,' Kirk replied, 'the last thing we need now is for the Romulans to think we're tricking them,' he commented, 'Mr Sulu,' he said, 'what's the status on the Klingon warbird?'

'It should be here any minute now,' Sulu replied.

Any minute now, Kirk repeated the words in his head, any minute now and they would be faced, yet again, with the most dangerous enemy they'd ever faced. If Kor and his fleet joined the party now…

'Better not tempt fate,' Kirk muttered under his breath.

'What is that, Captain?' but of course Spock's annoyingly sensitive ears would pick it up.

'Nothing,' he replied.

As he said that, a huge D7-class Bird-of-Prey dropped out of warp right in front of them, so close that it forced the USS Hope to rush out of the way. Unlike the other previous arrivals, this time there was no chit-chat, instead, the warbird launched an authentic onslaught of torpedoes, firing their phasers and pretty much every single weapon the ship possessed.

'Evasive manouvres!' Kirk shouted at Sulu, 'fire everything we've got!' he ordered Chekov.

'AYE CAPTAIN!' both of them replied at the same time.

As his ship engaged in a deadly dogfight with the Klingon warbird, Kirk knew it was crucial to keep its attention focused on the Enterprise for as long as possible. No matter what Talas said, he knew the USS Hope was far from being fully functional and, as per letting Khan fire upon the USS Intrepid…

That would be unacceptable.

'Our shields are down to 60%,' Sulu announced, 'we can't keep this up for much longer, Captain.'

'I know,' Kirk replied.

He was racking his brain trying to come up with a counter attack when Chekov announced:

'Captain, I'm…'

The Russian never finished whatever it is he was going to say because they all saw it with their own eyes: for some happy reason, the Klingon warbird simply imploded, with Khan and his crew onboard.

'What the…'

'Captain,' an awed Uhura said, 'it's the Romulans, they're hailing us again.'

'On screen,' Kirk could barely bring himself to mutter.

The image of the crippled Klingon ship falling prey of Nimbus III strong gravity field was replaced by Keras' pleasant expression. For a fleeting moment, Kirk felt like he could actually like this Romulan.

'Captain Kirk,' the Commander said, 'my apologies for the wait and, for…that trouble,' the Captain was incapable of speech so he let the Romulan continue, 'the Klingons are simple creatures,' he said without a single trace of malice, 'thus, it was easy to trick them into install our devices aboard their ships.'

'Commander,' Kirk finally found his voice, 'forgive me but, I cannot understand.'

'The device had two functions,' Keras explained in an almost scholarly way, 'one was to conceal the ship it was installed on, the other, we saw it as an insurance, in case the Klingon would…act up, like they just have. But let's move on,' the Commander said as if blowing up a Klingon warbird was something inconsequential, 'I have meditated and I would like to give you my answer.'

Kirk was only brave enough to say:

'Please.'

'Unlike Captain Decius, I feel a war is unnecessary for both our peoples,' Keras said, 'I have lived through many a conflict and I have learned that the best move to achieve victory, is to not take part in them at all. It is for this reason that I will advise our leadership to pursue a long term peace treaty, providing, of course, that you fulfill your terms.'

'We will,' Kirk promised.

'As per the Klingons,' Keras continued, 'let us deal with them. I daresay that after we reveal the true nature of their cloaking device, it won't be too difficult to persuade them to leave you in peace.'

'Commander,' Kirk said, 'all due respect but I feel you're over optimistic: the Klingons will never surrender, they'll just remove the device and…'

'I would very much like to see them try,' the Romulan said looking vaguely amused.

'What happens if they do?' Kirk asked curiously.

'The device is designed to protect itself from any tampering,' Keras supplied.

'A self-destruct mechanism,' Spock said making Kirk realise the Vulcan had got up from his chair.

'That is correct,' the Romulan confirmed, 'it is a good insurance policy, is it not?'

'Indeed,' Spock replied.

The Captain noticed just a hint of admiration in his First Officer's voice and he was surprised to acknowledge that he too thought the Romulan tactic was an excellent one. He'd just finished the thought when, out of the blue, a whole fleet of Klingon warbirds chose to reveal themselves.

'My apologies, Captain,' Keras said, 'it appears I have another, somewhat unexpected, appointment.'

Kirk could only grin imagining the Klingons' reaction after their "appointment" with Commander Keras.

_To be continued…_


	9. Chapter Eight

**Star Trek XIV – Tomorrow is Now**

_Chapter Eight_

A week after the crews of the Hope, the Intrepid and the Enterprise had witnessed the signature of the Nimbus III Peace Treaty between the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire, where they accepted the unconditional surrender of the Klingon Empire and its Defence Forces.

They had also officially charged Admiral Komack with the crime of high treason to the Federation, stripping him of his rank and placing him in the Intrepid's brig while President Martinez and his advisors decided what to do with the disgraced Admiral's crew and his ship, which, they all learned, had been poorly christened as USS Victory. The celebrations for all these events were still in full swing and the arrival of the main fleet three days ago only helped revive the party.

'Let's go,' Kirk told a fresh-out-of-the-hospital Carol.

'Where?' she asked him, taking a quick sip from her non alcoholic cocktail.

'We're running away,' Kirk whispered conspiratorially in her ear.

'Oh,' Dr Marcus gasped sounding amused, 'are we now?'

'Yes,' he confirmed, 'hurry, before they notice we're gone,' he added pointing at Spock, Dr McCoy and a few others of their crewmates who were kept distracted by the umpteenth speech from the Romulan Praetor.

The couple managed to sneak out from the main conference room aboard the Intrepid and, soon enough, they managed to convince the young girl manning the transporter room to beam them back on the Enterprise. It helped that, as Carol was quick to notice, the girl had seemed to have a bit of a crush on Kirk.

'Really?' he had asked her looking a little smug. Dr Marcus just punched him on his arm not too hard but enough to make her point, 'sorry,' he apologised, replacing his smirk with one of his winning smiles.

'You're incorrigible,' Carol commented as they finally arrived at the Captain's quarters.

'But you love me, right?' Kirk asked masking his mounting insecurity with a little bravado.

'You know I do,' she reassured him.

'Good,' Kirk said getting very serious all of a sudden, 'because I need to tell you something.'

'Oh no,' she complained, 'Jim, do you really need to…'

'Yes,' he stopped her, 'please hear me out, okay?'

'Okay,' she said wisely taking a seat by the small table the room came equipped with, 'what is it?'

Kirk swallowed and readied for the speech he'd been preparing for the past two weeks.

'Here' he started by offering her a PADD, 'please, read this,' he asked her gently.

Carol took the tablet in her hands and, looking at him with a confused expression on her beautiful face, she then lowered her gaze to the text written on it. Her casual peruse became intense reading as she went on.

'This…' she somehow managed to choke out.

'Carol…'

'Is this true?' Dr Marcus asked raising her voice.

'Carol, I…'

'Is this ALL true?' she repeated, she was visibly losing her cool and this made Kirk frown with worry.

'Yes,' he said.

Carol suddenly got up and, angrily throwing the PADD against the floor, making it crack in several places, she wailed a desperate sounding, 'NO!' so full of pain and a thousand other emotions that it made Kirk rush towards her and, tenderly cradling her face in both of his hands, he asked her to look at him.

'Carol,' he said, 'I know…I know it's…it's horrible, I know that.'

'Jim…' she cried, 'our baby Jim…our baby is gone…'

'I know,' Kirk repeated trying not to cry too, 'I'm so sorry, Carol, I really am. I cannot even imagine what you're feeling right now but, I just want you to know that I'm here for you. You know that, right?'

'Why?' Carol asked him as if he'd said something preposterous.

'Why?' he repeated incredulously, 'because I love you, Carol, that's why.'

'But…' she protested, 'I'm…I can't…the report…'

'I know what it says,' Kirk said, 'and I'm sorry it was kept from you, I…I didn't want you to have to deal with that, not while you were fighting to recover from your wounds.'

'But…' she repeated, '…it says…it says I have less than five percent chance of conceiving!'

'I know that,' Kirk said, 'and it doesn't matter.'

'Jim…'

Kirk released her face and, grabbing her hands instead, he lowered to the floor, settling down on his knee.

'What are you doing?'

'What I should have done the first time I realised how special you are,' he said his voice filled with emotion.

'And when was that?' she asked with a small voice.

'The day you stood up to your father in order to save our lives,' he confessed with a smile, 'that day, it made me wish I could just sweep you away and do whatever I could to talk you into being with me forever.'

'Jim…'

'Doctor Carol Elizabeth Marcus,' he said seriously, 'will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?'

Carol was, for the first time ever, left speechless and for the longest time, Kirk contemplated the possibility she might say no. Then, her lips began to curl into a tentative smile which was in stark contrast with the tears which still flowed down her cheeks. Kirk tried convincing himself those tears were now of joy.

'Yes,' she finally said, 'yes, I will.'

Getting up, he engulfed her in the mother of all embraces and, taking her face once again in his arms, he kissed her with all the pent up passion and desperation he'd been accumulating for nearly an entire month.

'Thank you,' he actually said, 'you won't regret this, I promise you that.'

Her smile became a little wider.

'Oh, wait,' he said rushing to his desk, he opened a drawer and took a little black box out if it, 'it's for you.'

'Jim!' she exclaimed, 'this is awfully old-fashioned!'

'What can I say,' he charmed her, 'I'm an old-fashioned man, deep down.'

Carol chuckled softly and, extracting the gold solitaire from inside the box, gave it to him so that he could slide it on her ring finger, taking a moment to observe the myriad of colours the artificial light reflected on it.

'It's beautiful,' she said, 'thank you.'

'You're wel…' he started saying but, just then, he found himself literally assaulted by Carol, 'hey, wait…' he stopped her, 'you just got out of the hospital, are you sure that you…that we can…'

'Yes, I'm sure,' she said with a certainty that left room to no further argument.

'Okay then,' Kirk said grinning like he'd just won the lottery. Then, he started kissing her all over again.

Some hours later, he woke up feeling unusually cold. His sleepy brain began wondering whether the system which managed the environment on board the ship was malfunctioning when he finally registered that he was alone in the bed. Waking up fully, Kirk turned his head around the room looking for his fiancée.

'Carol,' he called her out, 'where are you?' he added as he sprang up.

He checked the bathroom's door which was, as he'd left it, fully open and the inside light turned off. He then ran to the adjacent living room, also finding it empty. Panic nearly blinding him, he almost failed to notice it.

'No…' he muttered rushing to the table.

There, sitting on top of a small piece of actual paper, he found the ring he'd just given Carol.

On the paper itself, he read three words messily scribbled:

_I am sorry. _

These words pierced his heart, ripping it apart and causing him more pain than when he'd died of radiation poisoning. He found he had to lean against the wall for support and, for a moment, he allowed himself to wallow in his misery. Then, he felt the rational part of his brain not numbed by the pain, reacting strongly.

He needed to find her. And fast.

Pressing the button on his private intercom, he said:

'Computer, locate Doctor Carol Marcus.'

'Unable to comply,' the computer's artificial voice said, 'Doctor Carol Marcus is not onboard the ship.'

Running back into the sleeping area, he grabbed his trousers and his gold tunic, not bothering with any other garment and, stuffing his feet inside the regulation boots, he grabbed the ring and hurried outside.

He ran like hell to the turbolift and, once there, he waited impatiently till the cabin arrived.

Stabbing the button, he ordered it to take him to the deck that hosted the main transporter room. He was running towards it when he found himself right in front of his First Officer who looked vaguely surprised.

'Captain,' Spock said, 'they have located the wreck of the warbird that crashed on Nimbus III, the search party reported finding a large number of carbonised corpses, some of them were Klingon but others…'

'Not now,' Kirk said continuing his desperate race.

Spock was wise enough to follow him and he quietly watched as the Captain all but interrogated Scotty's young protégé who had been unfortunate enough to be the officer in charge of the transporter. Listening to his questions was enough for the Vulcan to surmise the predicament his bondmate found himself in.

'Are you sure you haven't seen her?' Kirk insisted to the poor young man.

'No, sir,' he replied, 'I'm really sorry but I haven't seen Dr Marcus since before the party started.'

'Captain,' Spock dared to intervene, 'perhaps Dr Marcus took an alternative means of transportation.'

'What…' Kirk began then, he stopped himself and said, 'of course!' he rushed to the room's intercom and, jabbing his finger on the button, he asked, 'Kirk to Shuttlebay.'

'This is Shuttlebay, Captain,' a female officer replied.

'Report all departures from the past…six hours,' Kirk ordered her.

'We've had three shuttles leaving, sir,' the woman replied, 'they were carrying part of the Defiant's crew.'

'Destination?' Kirk demanded.

'Two of them were headed to the USS Hope,' she explained, 'the third one went to the USS Republic.'

'Was Doctor Marcus onboard one of those shuttles?' he asked her fearing the answer.

'Negative, sir,' she replied, 'I see no one registered with that name.'

'What about Wallace?' Kirk asked her.

'Sir?'

'Carol Wallace, was someone with that name onboard?' Kirk specified running out of patience.

'Negative, sir,' the woman replied speaking very fast.

Without bothering to sign out, Kirk pressed the button to end his call. Having nearly ran out of options, he glanced at Spock, finally acknowledging his First Officer's presence by staring at him with desperation.

'Where is she?' he asked collapsing against the wall.

'Jim…' the Vulcan said, he then seemed to change his mind and, calmly glancing at the other officer in the room, he ordered him to, 'leave us.'

'Yes, Commander,' the Scotsman replied making himself scarce as quickly as he could.

As soon as they were left alone, Spock sat down in front of the transporter's console and started typing furiously fast. Kirk was starting to wonder what the Vulcan was doing when he looked up at him.

'The USS Republic went into warp three hours ago,' the Commander informed him, 'perhaps we could hail them and ask her Commanding Officer to run a facial recognition scan among all the members of the crew.'

'What if she's on the Hope?' Kirk asked him.

'We could as Acting Captain Da Silva to perform the same check,' Spock suggested.

'Okay,' Kirk said allowing himself to feel hopeful.

Spock didn't need to be told twice:

'Spock to bridge, Uhura acknowledge.'

'Uhura here,' she said sounding the consummate professional she was.

'Please hail the USS Republic and the USS Hope,' Spock instructed, 'place the latter on standby and patch the Republic through the intercom at the transporter room.'

'Yes, sir,' Uhura replied.

Less than five minutes later, they had audio contact with the CO from the USS Republic.

'Captain Noor,' Spock said, 'this is Commander Spock from the USS Enterprise, I require your assistance.'

'What can I do for you?' the Jordanian Captain asked.

'We need to locate someone who might have boarded your ship within the past six hours,' Spock said, 'we would appreciate if you could run a ship wide search using your security system's facial recognition tool.'

'I'll see what I can do,' Captain Noor said.

'Thank you, sir,' Spock replied, 'please stand by, I am transmitting the necessary files as we speak.'

With that done, he contacted Acting Captain Da Silva, issuing the same request, this time though, it was Kirk who asked for the favour, happy to see that Da Silva would treat the issue with the maximum discretion.

'I'll do everything I can,' the Brazilian promised him.

They waited in a tense silence for about five more minutes until the intercom chirped announcing a call.

'This is Captain Noor,' the Republic's commanding officer said, 'our search produced no positive matches. Doctor Carol Marcus does not appear to be onboard my ship. I'm sorry but I cannot be of any further help.'

'Thank you, Captain,' Spock said nevertheless.

Kirk's expression darkened once again and when Da Silva reported equally negative results, Spock saw the fight leaving him as though he was giving up. The Vulcan watched his Captain as Kirk stared at the contents of his fist, there, crushed in a tiny ball, he had the piece of paper Carol had left and the ring she'd rejected.

'Dammit!' he shouted throwing both of them across the room.

Spock observed as the two objects landed somewhere beyond the beaming pads then, deliberately slowly, he glanced at Kirk, the sorrow he found in those brilliant blue eyes shaking the Vulcan to his core.

'Jim…'

'Why?' his bondmate asked, his voice strangled by pain, 'why did she leave?'

'Jim…'

'Spock,' Kirk asked him unreasonably, 'why does everyone always leave me? It's always the same…ever…my father…my brother…even my mother…and Pike and…'

'Cease,' the Vulcan ordered him grasping his arms.

'…I don't get it,' Kirk ignored him, 'what's wrong with me?' he asked Spock, a single tear falling from his eye.

'Nothing,' the Vulcan obliged.

'Then, why does everyone always leave?' he asked again, the pain intensifying in his voice.

'That is not correct,' Spock said.

'What…'

'I am here, Jim' he clarified, 'as I have been, and always will be.'

This finally made the Captain react and for the second time in a brief period of time, he let his head fall onto the Vulcan's chest and cried the same way he'd done when he'd learned about the death of his unborn child. And just as it had happened then, Spock embraced him without speaking a single word.

'You're all I have now,' he heard Kirk quietly say after a short while, 'you and this ship.'

'Is that not enough?' Spock asked him.

Kirk lifted his head and, staring at his First Officer, he looked like he'd been hit by a sudden epiphany:

'Yes, it is,' he replied, 'it's more than enough.'

'Then, all is fine,' Spock decided.

It would be, Kirk agreed. Maybe Carol had run away from him, maybe he would find her sooner rather than later but, right now, with his ship and Spock by his side, he was not alone. He would never be alone.

Not anymore.

_To be concluded…_


	10. Epilogue

**Star Trek XIV – Tomorrow is Now**

_Epilogue_

Stardate 2265.47

Team Genesis was one of the many groups of physicists and engineers working at the starbase 25-Alpha on one of Starfleet's top secret projects. Given the delicate and potentially dangerous nature of the device they were developing, this specific team had been assigned the most remote laboratory in the whole complex.

Not that they complained, most of the members liked the peace and quiet it offered and their leader was no different. In her case, she had other, more private reasons to prefer the isolation but nobody knew that.

'Dr Kirk,' an old man called out, making her lift her heterochromatic eyes from the report she was reading.

'Yes?' she said trying not to look startled for, even after nearly three years, she still wasn't used to the name she had made up for herself. She guessed it was the price she had to pay in order not to be found.

'How is it?' the physicist asked.

'I still have to run one more test,' the doctor replied, 'but I think it's looking good.'

'Perfect,' he said, 'I come bearing good news too,' he added and, without letting her ask, he dropped a PADD right on top of the one she was reading, 'they took those just a few minutes ago, check them out.'

Taking the tablet in her hands, Carol checked the images it showed and they managed to bring a smile to her lips: the previously barren asteroid was clearly starting to form its own, albeit weak, atmosphere.

'We've found musk on the rocks,' he said looking like a proud mother, 'and little leaved plants too.'

'Plants?' she asked placing the PADD back on her desk.

'That's right,' the old man said, 'Lizzy, the machine you built is working as designed. I know you want to run some more tests but, I'm telling you, those Vulcans will be very pleased when they see it.'

'Pleased isn't the word I'd use,' Carol said, 'not when talking about Vulcans.'

'You're probably right,' he conceded, 'in any case, it's late, why don't you go home?'

'In a minute,' she said, 'I just want to finish reading this and then I'll set up the last test.'

'Good,' the physicist said, 'I'm off now, make sure you lock everything up.'

'I will,' she promised with a smile. The man really behaved like if he was her father…

The thought surprised her and she found herself closing her eyes, trying hard not to think of the terrible way in which she lost hers. It was pointless though, the picture of Khan crushing her father's skull would remain imprinted in her mind forever. Shaking the image off, she returned her attention to the report.

Three hours later, she arrived at her apartment. It wasn't big but it was comfortable enough, plus, it was close to the outpost facilities like the supermarket, medical and recreational centres. Also, it was quiet.

'Carol?' she heard her aunt's voice calling her out.

Panicking, she hurried to get inside, nervously checking if anyone had overheard the name.

'Oh come on, child,' the older woman said, 'there's no need to be paranoid.'

'Aunt Martha,' she replied feeling a little upset, 'I've told you we need to be careful.'

'Why?' Martha wanted to know.

'You know why,' Carol replied dryly.

'Yes,' her aunt confirmed, 'and I also know that this specific problem has a very easy solution.'

'No,' Carol insisted, 'and I don't want to talk about it anymore.'

'But…'

'How was he today?' she asked her instead.

'Jimmy's fine,' Martha replied sounding a little miffed, 'his fever is almost gone, like I said it would.'

'I know,' she said, 'it's just that…we're so far away and…'

'And this is not the place for a two year old boy,' Martha said looking like she was ready to start again.

'Aunt Martha, please,' she begged, 'I already feel bad about this, you don't need to make it worst.'

'Me?' the woman asked sounding highly sarcastic, 'you're the one who's making it worst, every day that goes by and that you don't tell his father of his existence it makes it worst. I just…'

'Stop it!' she exclaimed now sounding definitely upset.

'Don't use that tone with me, young lady,' she warned her, 'I promised your mother I would look out for you and I know I was absent in the worst possible time but I am here now and I want to make sure you don't make a mistake that you'll regret.'

'I…'

'You know that your mother and I grew up without a father,' she continued as if Carol hadn't interrupted her, 'and it wasn't easy for our mother. This is why yours insisted you spent time with your father, even though she hated the man with a passion. Furthermore,' she added, 'Captain James T Kirk is a hero of the Federation, he's saved entire planets more than once and, wasn't he instrumental in the peace treaty with the Romulans?'

'Yes, he was,' Carol was forced to admit.

'Then what did he do to you?' Aunt Martha asked her for the millionth time that year.

'Nothing!' she exclaimed, 'he didn't do a single thing.'

'Then, I must be stupid,' the older woman said, 'because I just don't understand you at all.'

'I…' she started then, she closed her mouth and, shaking her head, she said, 'sometimes I don't understand myself. I just know I can't let Jim know about our son. I'm sorry if this upsets you but, I can't.'

Aunt Martha stared at her for a few moments then she placed her hand on top of Carol's shoulder and said:

'Okay, I understand.'

Carol looked at her, marvelling again about how alike the two of them looked.

'Thank you,' she said smiling sadly, 'now, if you don't mind, I'll go and check on Jimmy.'

'Sure,' the woman said, 'listen,' she then added as if she'd had an afterthought, 'how did the tests go?'

'It's nearly ready,' Carol replied happy they had left a most painful topic behind, 'but we're having a bit of trouble finding a suitable transport to take the device to New Vulcan. You know, we can't use a civilian cargo because it's too dangerous, but all military ships that come anywhere near us go either to Romulus or directly back to Earth and those that don't do that, they make several stops along the way.'

'I know,' the woman commented, 'I did seven of them to come here when you called me.'

'Yeah,' Carol said, 'I was worried that you would just turn round and tell me it wasn't worth the trouble.'

'And not meet my only grandnephew?' the woman rhetorically asked, 'I wouldn't have missed that even if I had had to travel to the other end of the universe. In any case,' she said, 'I still have some contacts in Starfleet from when your mother and I served, if you want, I could try to see if any of them can help.'

'Really?' Carol asked her already looking grateful.

'I can't promise you anything, child,' she replied, 'but I'll do my best.'

'Thank you,' she said nevertheless.

'Now, go and see your son,' Martha ordered her, 'he's been calling you all day but, to be honest, ever since he learned how to say "mummy", that's pretty much all he says so you never know for sure.'

'I'll go now, just in case,' Carol said grinning a little.

The older woman returned the smile and then, as the doctor went to see her beautiful blond, blue eyed little angel, she walked purposely to her room, sitting in front of her communicator. There, she pressed the button that would connect her with the nearest relay point and, after talking to someone there, they patched her through with an office in Starfleet HQ in San Francisco.

'Martha Wallace,' an Admiral around her same age exclaimed, 'what a surprise!''

'Hello Trevor,' she replied offering him a smile, 'it's been a very long time, hasn't it?'

The balding man lost his and nodding once, he said:

'Yes, since your sister's funeral, if I'm not mistaken.'

'Yeah,' Martha said choosing not to go anywhere near the subject, 'I know it's been a long time but…'

'What can I do for you?' the man asked her without letting her finish.

'I would need you to do me a favour,' Martha asked him.

'I'll do what I can, you know that,' the man replied.

'I'm currently staying with my niece and grandnephew at the Starbase 25-Alpha and she's having quite a lot of trouble finding transportation for her project,' she explained, 'say, is there any chance you could send a ship here so that she can get a lift to New Vulcan?'

'Let me see,' he said checking something on a screen, 'the USS Missouri is nearby.'

'I had a different ship in mind…' she said using the significant amount of charm she still possessed.

'Which one?' the Admiral asked.

'The Enterprise,' Aunt Martha replied all-too-casually, 'I know they're due to return from their five-year mission soon. Perhaps you can get them to do a little detour.'

'I'll do my best,' the Admiral promised her.

'Oh, I know you'll do just fine,' she replied.

A few moments after, Martha closed the call and, staring at a picture of her baby sister, she said:

'Don't worry: your grandson will not grow up without his father, I promise you that.'

_CONTINUES in Star Trek XV – Now and Forever_


End file.
